Giving it a Try
by byrhthelm
Summary: All it takes is one answer to one question to change lives.  H. Rabb & C. Gale - Complete
1. Chapter 1

**Giving it a Try**

Catherine Gale's jaw dropped almost to the table top, or so it seemed, and her eyes grew to the size of saucers, "What... what did you just say?" and blushed a furious crimson as she realised that shock had almost completely paralysed her vocal cords so that her voice came out in a squeak.

He looked at her across the dinner table, still littered with the remains of the pasta, garlic bread and salad meal he had served in his apartment just north of Union Station. A still half-full carafe of sparkling cider - in deference to her five month pregnancy - sat between them and noticing that she seemed to be about to lose her grip on her glass, he reached out and gently took it from her unresisting hand and placed the glass on the coaster in front of her.

"I said," he repeated in eminently reasonable tones that belied the enormity of the proposition he had just made, "why don't we give our relationship a chance?"

She stared at him past the half-empty carafe of sparkling cider, and as some of the colour drained from her face; she made a major effort and cleared her throat. "We don't have a relationship!" she almost snapped at him, relieved that her voice, at least, had returned to normality even if the rest of her life suddenly seemed to have taken a nose dive down a dark and tangled path. And that, she thought was not good; here she was, a confident, experienced attorney, a product of one of the best law schools in the country and she was mixing her metaphors. And thinking about that for a moment, was she totally sure that it was his preposterous suggestion that had flummoxed her, or was it his undeniable good looks, or, and her eyes dropped suspiciously to her glass, was that just ordinary sparkling cider? After all, it had been decanted before she'd arrived for dinner, and she'd never seen the label on the bottle, let alone anything else that might have been added to the carafe.

No, she sternly told herself, that last suspicion was totally unworthy! He would never dream of doing anything even remotely dishonourable, and that of course was why he was unemployed again! His years of naval service as pilot and lawyer had invested him with a personal code of honour which ultimately had run foul against the far looser ethical code practised by the Company, and that snake Webb had taken a cheap advantage and had had him fired for being... a human being! Alright, he had broken a cardinal Company rule; he had been filmed during an operation, but what an operation! He had landed a C-130, a giant, lumbering transport plane that wasn't equipped for such a lunatic act, on the deck of an aircraft carrier, at night and without hydraulics! It was sheer lunacy! But it was also sheer brilliance! And he had saved a dozen lives in doing so.

But that wasn't important right now. He had taken another quixotic idea in his head and one that he needed dislodging as quickly as possible. She drew a deep breath and said, "Look, we barely know each other, and the only reason we're having dinner tonight is because you asked for my help in reviewing those old JAG cases..."

"Umm, that's not strictly true is it Catherine?" he interrupted her.

She looked at him closely, "What do you mean?" she demanded

"Well," he replied expansively, "we did get married!"

"You know perfectly well we didn't get married!" she denied furiously, "the only reason you went through that farce with me was so I'd tell you where to start looking for Colonel MacKenzie!"

"No, Catherine," and suddenly the levity was gone from his face and from his voice, "that wasn't the only reason, was it? I seem to recall that we went through that farce in order to bring some peace to your mother. I'll admit, I wasn't happy with the whole idea, at first, but as we went through our little ceremony and I saw the peace and happiness that filled your mother's face, I just knew that somehow, at that time and in that place, we were doing something good!"

Catherine could not help but be touched by the conviction in his face and in his voice, but she was not about to let herself be out-argued by a mere Georgetown Law School Alumnus. "That is entirely beside the point," she refuted his claims, "We all thought that Mom was dying that night, and a little white lie would help ease her passing!"

"It didn't work out like that though, did it?" he challenged her.

"No, it didn't," she smiled and lost the sharp edge to her voice, "I don't know what happened that night, we, Donnie, me, the doctors, none of us expected her to last until the morning... but somehow, and thank God, she's still with us, and in better shape than she's been for a long time."

Harm continued looking at her and saw her face soften, and was almost certain that her eyes had taken on an extra sheen, and reached out with his large hand to cover her small one as it rested on the table. "How is she, Catherine?" he asked softly.

Catherine felt her breath catch again as she looked at him, his eyes, his face, his tone, his... everything showing that he really did care. He really cared about her mother, an old lady he'd only met for about an hour, yet he cared. "Oh, she's out of ICU and back in a regular room. We don't think she'll ever be coming home again, but with what's happened already, we're not giving up hope entirely."

"Yeah." He nodded and then fixed her eyes with his intense gaze, "have you 'fessed up, come clean about us?"

Part of her desperately wanted to say that she had told her mother that the wedding had been a fake, but looking at him she knew she couldn't lie to him, "No... the right opportunity just hasn't come up... It's complicated... you don't understand..." She dropped her eyes and stared at the remnants of the salad on her plate. She sounded confused, even to herself.

He gently squeezed the hand that still lay beneath his and contradicted her, "Actually Catherine, I do understand complicated and difficult. And I know, _God, how I know_, just how difficult trying to explain things can be, and how just the right moment never seems to come up, but stories have to be confessed, or," he paused to gauge her reaction, "facts can be altered to fit the story."

She raised her eyes to his again. There had been a raw edge to his voice that she hadn't heard before. There was something in his whole bearing that had altered since she had first met him during the _Angelshark_ inquiry. He seemed... diminished, somehow; as if something was missing. Of course, when he had been involved in that case against her, he had still been in the navy, but now in the aftermath of Webb's totally goat-roped Paraguayan operation, he had resigned from the navy and had been exposed to six months of the CIA before Webb fired him. Damn the Company, she thought bitterly, just what had they done to him?

"So... just what brought on this sudden desire for..." she paused again, this wasn't going to be easy. She actually liked the guy sitting opposite her, and she could see enough pain in his eyes that she was reluctant to inflict any more, but really this out-of-the-blue suggestion that the two of them should become romantically involved, that they should have a relationship was ridiculous. It was based on no more than one shared investigation dating way back in the day, and that absurd idea she'd had to fool her mother... Unless... "What is it with this crackpot idea of yours? We hardly know each other, I'm five, nearly six months pregnant with another man's child - and I've already told you that I'm never going say who the father is. So what is it, a sudden desire for an instant family? And anyway, what about you and Mac, everyone knows..." she stopped as she saw a fleeting expression of loss cross his face only to be almost instantaneously replaced with an expressionless mask.

"Everyone is wrong!" he ground out. "There is no Mac and I. There never will be a Mac and I. She made that perfectly clear six months ago in Ciudad del Este. She's moved on with her life, and so I'm trying to move on with mine!" His face relaxed and his eyes, which had suddenly seemed to turn to ice chips warmed up again as he flashed his smile at her, "And I choose to try and move on with you. As far as the baby is concerned, it doesn't matter that I'm not his or her biological father. If there's one thing being a step-son has taught me, there's a damn sight more to being a father than jut contributing genes. And do I want an instant family? Well, maybe. But the thing is, I'm forty years old, so that means if I have a child tomorrow, I'll be sixty plus when he or she graduates from college..."

"She," Catherine interrupted, almost absent-mindedly.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Right. So, as I was saying, my body clock is running out. I let most of the women I've known slip out of my life, while I waited for my dream to come true. That dream is over, and I've woken up, and I can't say that I really like the smell of solitary coffee. What we have here Catherine is two people who are on their own, when you certainly, are smart enough and beautiful enough to warrant all the care and attention any man can give you. A girl, are you sure?"

Catherine smiled and nodded, and was about to muster a whole array of arguments as to why his suggestion was impossible, but there was something in what he had just said that struck a chord. He was right, she was six months pregnant, the father of her child had turned out to be one of the biggest mistakes, if not the biggest mistake in her life, and although she worked in a crowded office complex and knew literally hundreds of people, she had chosen to come to him, a comparative stranger, an unemployed ex CIA and navy pilot and lawyer, for somebody to talk to, somebody to share her thoughts with, somebody to be a companion, for comfort and maybe even eventually healing. And as the thoughts crossed her mind she looked deep into those amazing eyes opposite and saw pain, depression, loss, loneliness, the fear of rejection and perhaps, just maybe, the beginning of hope.

Her whole mind screamed at her to say 'no' and to get up from the table and to walk out of his apartment and his life, never to come back, but some indefinable force seemed to be holding her in place, and as she realised that her hand on the table was still covered by his own, she looked down at it and saw how it was cupped protectively over hers, and then she knew that even if they didn't love each other, that the man sat at the table with her would never hurt her the way Kevin had and what was more, he would never allow anyone else to hurt her ever again. Not since she had discovered that her contraception had failed had she felt so secure, so safe. She shook her head, it was totally illogical, there was not, there could never be, anything between them. The words 'I'm sorry, Harm' were on the tip of her tongue and she opened her mouth and said "OK, then, let's give it a try."

His answer was a second gentle squeeze of her hand, and even as she turned her own palm upward to respond in kind, her mind was screaming at her, what the hell did you just say! You were going to say no! You were going to get up, leave and never come back, but you said yes! What were you thinking! And she was honest enough with herself to answer, I don't know.

Harm sat and looked at her closely, although she'd just said yes, she looked to be in shock, while he felt the lump of ice in his chest, a lump that had been there since his last night in Paraguay, begin to melt, and he felt a smile, a real smile, cross his face. Standing, he said, "Shall we move this to the couch? We've got a lot to talk about."

"Yes, we do," Catherine replied shakily and reached out her hands to allow him to help her to her feet.

Installing her on the couch, and making sure she had sufficient cushions behind her to support her back, Harm went through to the kitchen island, asking, "What would you prefer, decaf coffee or tea?"

Catherine managed a grin, "What I'd really, really like, is a stiff scotch and soda. But," she continued as she caught sight of Harm's horrified expression, "I guess I'll settle for tea, please."

Harm considered her for a few minutes while he waited for the kettle to boil. Only part of his reaction to her mention of alcohol was due to his knowledge of the effects of alcohol could have on a foetus, but by far the greatest part had been the realisation that by her one mention of her use of alcohol, that he was now in an entirely different ball-game to that which he had played with Mac for the last eight years.

Carrying the two mugs of tea, he sat next to Catherine, careful to leave a non-threatening gap between them, "Now, that you've agreed to give my idea a try-out, how are we going to work this between us?" he asked carefully.

"Um... slowly?" Catherine suggested, "I'm mean I'm not some young tender virgin," she grinned deprecatingly and indicated her swollen abdomen, "but there are some things that shouldn't be rushed..."

Harm inhaled sharply, taking a least a half-mouthful of hot tea down the wrong hole. The subsequent fit of choking, gasping and coughing at least gave him a reason other than his acutely felt embarrassment for the blush that had almost instantaneously risen to his face at her bringing up so quickly a subject around to which he had meant to work his way.

"Ummm... that wasn't quite what I meant," he eventually managed to gasp out, "I was thinking more like theatres of operation, not rules of engagement! What I mean," he continued as he observed the blank look she threw at him, "where, literally where do we go from here? This apartment is great - for me, but it's hardly big enough for two adults living together full-time, and it's certainly no way big enough for two adults and a little person. I don't suppose your apartment is much bigger, either?"

"Uh... no... it's not, but what makes you think we'll be moving in together anyway. I thought we'd just agreed to make haste slowly."

"No..." he drew the word slowly, fixing her with a sharp glance, "You just said that we ought to take things slowly. But that falls under the rules of engagement..."

"Harm, this is not a war!" she protested with a giggle, "We do not have to have theatres of operations or rules of engagement, or... or any of that military speak!"

"Well maybe not those precise terms," he agreed with a smile, "but, you've got to admit the whole idea is a little bit out of left field there, so we need some boundaries to try and keep a hold on the wackiness!"

"Getting cold feet, Harm?" she challenged him with a smile, but with a sinking feeling that he was indeed in the process of changing his mind.

"No... no, I'm not. I don't regret making the suggestion, and I couldn't be happier that you've agreed to give it a go. It's just..." he hesitated, as he realised he was about to use an old argument, one that had led to a world class disagreement at one time. He swallowed, took a deep breath and ploughed on. "It's just that I need to feel some in control in any given situation. When you're up there," he pointed up and out through the window, "if you lose sight of your boundaries, well, it's a non-habit forming occupation." And seeing her look of incomprehension, he swallowed again, hard, and said, "You only get to lose control up there once Catherine, there are no second chances."

Instead of coming back at him with a snappy one-line put-down as Mac had done when he'd said pretty much the same thing to her, Catherine stopped to think about what he'd said before she responded. "And so, because you need the control up there, you feel need it down here, or has it become so habitual that you can't let it go anymore?"

Harm looked at her in wide-eyed astonishment, he was so accustomed to zinging replies, to walls and barricades and off-hand comments that her thoughtfulness and perception had taken him by surprise, "Yeah, I guess so..."

"So, you find spontaneity difficult?"

"Well, I don't know about that..." he broke off as he caught the cynical lift of her eyebrow, and then rather shamefacedly, muttered "Well, yeah, it's not something that comes too easy..."

"Uh-huh. And when you invited me over for dinner tonight, did you plan to drop the relationship bomb?"

"Uh... no... it just sort of came up on me..."

"Spontaneously?" she suggested archly.

He burst into laughter, "Yeah, spontaneously!"

Catherine sat back and enjoyed his laughter. That had been far too easy, she thought. He had just so completely folded under Direct; mind you she had been more than just slightly guilty of leading the witness.

She rested her elbow against the couch's arm and propped her chin on her fist as she continued to study him. She was all too well aware that physically he was devastatingly attractive, and why one his many previous girlfriends - she was a CIA lawyer after all and had carried out extensive background checks on him, all in the line of duty of course - hadn't snapped him up years ago, was totally beyond her. He was, as he had admitted forty, but she was in her thirties, an expectant single mother; so there was no real obstacle there. He was, as she'd already discovered an honourable man, old-fashioned though that concept might be in today's world. He was intrinsically honest, courteous and kind and she could never imagine him being anything other than gentle with her. He was also morally strong as well as being physically powerful, but this evening there had been a glimpse, just a glimpse of an underlying vulnerability, he had somehow let slip that she had the power to inflict an incredible amount of damage on him. He could only have come by the knowledge that a woman could hurt him so badly, because one had already done so, and Catherine Gale was willing to place a sizeable wager that she knew the identity of the guilty party. Once that knowledge had dawned, it had to be confronted; there was no possible way that she could have any sort of relationship with Harmon Rabb while a five-hundred pound gorilla in the shape of the unseen presence of Sarah MacKenzie was squatting in the corner of the room. She mentally braced herself; this was not going to be easy, for either of them. Drawing a deep breath she said, "Harm, what about Mac?"

For a few seconds he felt his rage rising, but with an effort he forced it back down. He had just asked the woman sharing the couch with him to take a chance on him with a view to her sharing his life and he owed her at the very least complete honesty. "Like I said, Catherine, she's made it very clear that she and I have no future. You have nothing to worry about as far as she's concerned."

Catherine held his gaze, "Oh, it's not that Harm, I have no fears that you would ever betray me, or any woman with whom you're involved, with Mac or with any other woman. I just don't want to be your fall-back girl! I don't want to let myself get involved with you only to find six months down the road that Mac wants you back, and that you want to go back to her!"

Harm looked at her earnestly, "That is not going to happen," he enunciated very clearly. "For years Mac has played me like a goddam yo-yo, winding me out and then reeling me back in. And the more fool me, I put up with her doing that in the hope that someday, she might feel for me the same way I felt for her, but," he added cynically, "I am not a total fool, and I do understand what the word 'never' means! I should have guessed even before she said it. I had nightmares about her being killed, I gave up everything for her, my career, I worried myself sick over her, and when I found her she was strapped to a torture table about to be electrocuted, I'd killed the guards... God, one I'd even killed with my bare hands... and she didn't even say thank you, when I cut her loose. She ran straight to Webb, kissed him and said that she'd liked being his wife, and then she turned round to Gunny Galindez and thanked him and hugged him too, but not me. Then we got back and the Admiral told me he had processed my papers, well that was one thing, but then he turned around and humiliated me in front of her, and apart from a token protest, and in spite of all I had done for her, she stood there, she just stood there and let him. And now, apparently she's decided that she prefers Webb over me, well, Catherine, that's fine with me, she and Webb are welcome to each other."

Catherine objected, "But the other night, when I arrived she was already here, and the look she gave me was a definite warning off... territorial... possessive even..."

"The only reason she was here the other evening is because there are fourteen years of Imes' courts martial records to review, and she needed me to help with her workload. Anything else you think you might have seen between us was unreciprocated, and probably no more than her being a dog in the manager anyhow"

Catherine was truly appalled, "What? After all you did for her, after all you gave up for her and after she turned to Webb, and after Webb fired you, she came to you for help with her work? I thought these were some of your old cases that you needed to go through. But she came to you to get your help with her case-load, work that she has to do because she's still got a job! Unbelievable!"

Harm looked at her thunderstruck, "Yes... it is, isn't it... You're right. The hell with it. I'll give her a call in the morning, and she can come and collect them at my convenience. Oh... she said she was working to a deadline... but, hell no, as a civilian attorney I could be charging five hundred an hour, why the hell should I do _pro bono_ for someone who doesn't appreciate me, who has never appreciated what I have done!"

Catherine felt a wave of relief mixed with sympathy wash over her. He sounded incredibly bitter, but then again, she felt he had the right to be. She had always known far more about Webb's mission to Paraguay than she had been able to tell him, hell, more than she'd ever been able to tell anyone, and she had known that Webb's back-up plan for if (when, more likely) his initial plan failed was for Harm to go charging to the rescue like the Seventh Cavalry. But what she hadn't known was the nature of operation's target. If she had known who Sadiq really was, she wouldn't have jerked Harm's strings; she would have given him as full a briefing as possible, and to hell with the consequences. At least she hoped she would have done. But recriminations weren't going to resolve tonight's challenges.

"OK, then, I'm not your fall-back girl. You're happy to take on the daddy role. Now you were talking about apartments and how unsuitable they would be for a baby?"

"Yeah, what we need is a three, or better yet, four bedroom house," his voice took on an almost sing-song quality while his eyes became unfocussed and it was clear to Catherine that he was seeing something that definitely wasn't the apartment or even something that was in the apartment. "A warm, mellow brick built place with a porch, maybe even a wrap-around, with room for a double swing, and some sort of front boundary, closing off the world from what's ours. Oh, yes, and a closed back yard so our children can play in safety..." his voice trailed into silence as he lost himself in his dream.

It would have been so easy to mock that dream, but there had been a touch of wistfulness in his voice that would have made any teasing vicious and hurtful, and despite her no-holds-barred approach to litigation, Catherine Gale wasn't in the business of inflicting unnecessary hurt, especially when the potential target had suddenly revealed just how sensitive and vulnerable he might be.

"Hey, you've given this a lot of thought haven't you?" she asked softly.

"Only for the last eight years or so," he replied quietly.

Catherine flinched, but managed to conceal it. He was being honest with her, even if that honesty did reveal just how long he'd thought he was in love, or even had been in love, with Sarah MacKenzie, "OK, then, have you thought where you might want to live?"

"Well, it doesn't really matter to me anymore, but you wouldn't want too long a commute to Langley, so how about somewhere near there, say Mclean, perhaps?"

"Uh-huh, sounds logical. So we start house-hunting?" Catherine wasn't entirely serious; the prices for the sort of properties he had been describing in and around McLean were astronomical.

"Yeah. You're still working aren't you?" a nod of his head at her abdomen showed the reason he thought she might not be. She in turn nodded her own agreement.

"Fine, so we can start on Saturday, unless you've got any plans for the weekend?"

"You're serious, aren't you?" Catherine sought confirmation.

"Yeah. And to show you just how serious, why don't you meet me tomorrow after work?"

"Yeah, OK. Where?"

"Kresge. Your mom's room. I think we need to bring her up to speed."

Catherine stared at him. This time she nearly was in shock. She was about to open her mouth and give him a verbal blistering when she realised he was right. Since her bump had started showing she had made only a few visits to her mother, and had worn loose, baggy sweaters, or overcoats to disguise her expanding waistline. But to deny her mother the news that she was going to have a grandchild by her daughter, would be far too cruel, especially if she could present Harmon Rabb as the child's male parent.

After a few moments frantic thought, she finally agreed, "Umm... yeah, you're right." She fumbled in her purse and retrieved a card, "here's my private cell number. It takes me about thirty minutes to get the hospital from the office, so call me when you're that far out, and I'll meet you there, OK?" She looked at him pleadingly, and although he had been on the verge of saying he'd meet her Langley CIA Centre, he gathered that for some reason she wanted to meet him at the hospital.

"Sure," he smiled warmly at her, "not a problem. And now for something completely different, Miss Gale, tell me all about yourself..."

"Oh," she smiled, settling back against the cushions, "Nothing to tell really, Mom, Dad, Donnie, me. Normal childhood, school, Duke and then Cornell Law..." he raised his eyebrows in admiration at her academic pedigree, but as she fell silent he raised them even further in encouragement.

"Oh, well," she smiled, recognising his tactics, "Dad was a retired army Brigadier General, Mom, like most women of her class and generation was a homemaker. Donnie's about three and a half years older than me, married with two boys. After I graduated Cornell Law, Dad's links with the intelligence community - he was Military Intelligence Corps - tapped me into a junior attorney's job at Langley, and I've been there ever since, quietly working my way up the corporate attorney ladder."

Harm sat back and regarded her silently and she felt herself grow pink under his scrutiny, until unable to bear his silence any longer, she snapped rather shrewishly, "What?"

"Oh, I was just waiting for you to finish..." he said lazily, enjoying the flash of irritation in her eyes. Catherine Gale was a beautiful woman, but in some ways she seemed just a little too cool, a little too much together, and although he absolutely no desire for a reprise of the all too frequent firestorms he had suffered through with Mac, he did rather enjoy those rare instances when Catherine let her own fire and passion show through.

She looked at him blankly, "But, that's it... that was us."

"No, Catherine. You've told me what you were. You haven't told me who you were. You haven't told me about how excited you were when you got your first bike, or how you loathed Ken, and preferred GI Joe as Barbie's boyfriend, or how you hated Billy the little boy next door, because he pulled your pigtails when you were in second grade, or the crush you had on the quarterback when you were in high school..."

Catherine was forced to chuckle as Harm ticked off his points on his fingers, parodying the upbringing of a white middle-class girl of the seventies and eighties, "If I told you all that," she protested, "then I wouldn't have any secrets from you at all! But, I'll let you know one secret; it wasn't the quarterback, it was the strong safety!"

With that she attempted to get to her feet, but was unable to extricate herself from the clutches of the couch. Half laughing and half-exasperated, she held out an imploring hand to Harm, who got to his feet and extending both hands to her lent her his strength as she struggled to her feet.

Retaining his grip on her hands, he asked, "Going somewhere?"

Suddenly shy, she found difficulty in meeting the gaze of those deep blue eyes at close quarters, and looking down at her feet, which she could still see, she comforted herself, mumbled, "Yeah, I think it's about time I left," and in a burst of renewed confidence, she grinned up at him, "Us pregnant gals need plenty of rest, you know, and it is getting near my bed-time! Harm, thanks for the dinner, and for the surprise... I think." Holding on to his forearm for balance, she stretched up and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek.

Harm helped her into her coat, and grabbed his leather jacket from the hook behind the door, and seeing her raise her eyebrows said, "I'll walk you out."

"There's no need, I can find my own way."

"Indulge me in this," he replied, "It's just the way I was raised." Yeah it was, but apart from his upbringing there was no way he was going to let a pregnant woman walk around this neighbourhood after dark. It had always been a source of one of his and Mac's ongoing quarrels; this was not a good neighbourhood but her resistance to his escort, 'I'm a Marine, I can look after myself,' had driven him half-wild with fear for her time after time.

Whether or not his escort deterred any lurkers he would never know, but he conducted Catherine to her car, and just before she eased herself behind the wheel, he took the opportunity to catch her by her elbows and return an equally soft kiss to her cheek.

"Goodnight, Catherine, I'll see you tomorrow at Kresge!"

Catherine smiled her agreement, and turning the key in the ignition, she engaged the drive and stopping briefly at the end of the alley, she turned the car to her left, and as she straightened the wheel, she put her hand to her cheek where she could still feel the warmth and pressure of his lips and quietly told herself that she was completely insane to have even entertained his preposterous notion for even a second, but still...


	2. Chapter 2

**2**

Harm awoke the next morning to the accompaniment of an indefinable sense of well being. A feeling he hadn't really enjoyed since he'd been arrested for the attempted murder of Loren Singer. Thank God the woman had eventually emerged from her coma and cleared him of the charges. It was so sad though that she'd lost her baby. Always difficult to work with, and so closed off and driven, she had become worse, more acerbic, quieter, more sullen, morose even, and even more ambitious, resolute and sharp in turning away help and sympathy. She had requested a return to sea duty as soon as she had been passed by the Medical Review Board, although what the hell the admiral had been thinking when he cut her orders for the _Coral Sea_ he had no idea.

Mind you, he acknowledged to himself, as he allowed the hot sting from the shower head to complete his awakening, he had no idea what the hell the admiral had been thinking when he had allowed Webb to 'borrow' Mac for that operation in the Chaco Boreal, or why Chegwidden had cut her loose, and abandoned her to torture and probably rape and death. The murder of the two British missionaries had shown that Sadiq had no qualms about the cold-blooded killing of women and defenceless prisoners. OK, he _had_ resigned his commission to go after Mac, and he had no regrets, well he'd had none at the time, and only a few now, and he had done so in the knowledge that the resignation might be accepted. He hadn't expected though, the public humiliation of being addressed the way he had been, and then to be told to go and drive a cab or wrestle alligators. That had hurt. But what had hurt the most was that Mac, apart from that one pathetic protest, had said nothing in his defence and had gone back to work for the man who had abandoned her to her fate. He shook his head as he towelled himself dry. The hell with it, he had woken feeling great. It was a beautiful morning, he had no duties compelling him to be anywhere at any given time, and he wasn't about to talk himself back into a fit of gloominess! He squinted out of the window as he pulled his T-shirt over his head and decided that once he'd made a couple of phone calls he'd head down to Charlottesville and spend the day doing some badly needed maintenance on his Stearman.

His first call was to Mac, and he waited for her to pick up her cell phone.

"MacKenzie."

"Rabb here. Just to let you know that I'm going to be out of town for a day or two and I don't have time to go through those Imes files you brought over. Sorry."

"But... but Harm... I need, I really need those case reviews." Mac sounded stunned.

"Yeah, I s'pose you do. But I don't...It's not my job anymore is it?" The indifference in his voice felt like a punch to her solar plexus and she thought she could hear just the slightest trace of bitterness.

"But Harm, you promised... and you never break a promise..." He could hear the plea, but stiffened himself to resist it.

"No, Commander Rabb never broke a promise, Colonel. But I'm not a Commander anymore, either, am I? Look Mac, I don't have time to review those cases, and I don't have time to argue about it. Now do you want me to drop them by Falls Church, or I shall I just leave them in the box outside my apartment door?"

"Uh, can you drop them by at JAG please?" Now he could hear the sound of defeat in her voice, and a small, unworthy part of him rejoiced.

"Yeah, it's a bit out of my way, but I can do that."

"Thanks!" Her tone was now bitterly sarcastic.

Harm ended the call and picked up the local newspaper to browse the real estate ads while he brewed a pot of coffee and prepared a bowl of oatmeal. Breakfast over, he reached for his 'phone again, "Hi, Graves Realtors? Good morning, this is Harmon Rabb on 821 555 0941, I'm looking for a three or four bed property near Langley. Could you send me your listings of anything you might have that matches that description? Great, the address is..."

Just one more call to make, "Hi Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport? Yeah, this is Harmon Rabb, I have a Stearman N6 hangared with you. It's a great day, so I'm coming up to do some maintenance on her. Could you have somebody get her out on to the apron for me, please? Thank you. I'll be about two hours."

Another look at the sky convinced him to wheel the Indian out of the garage, and after securing the file box in one of the panniers and slinging his leg over the saddle he settled himself and kicked the engine into life. As he wove his way through the traffic on his accustomed route towards Falls Church, he mused about how much time he could have saved over the years if he'd taken the motor-cycle to work instead of the 'vette or the Lexus.

He didn't bother taking the box up to the Ops level; that would have meant unnecessary delay while he signed in and was issued with a visitor's badge. Instead, he opened it for inspection by the Marine Corporal on duty at the reception desk and asked her to call Colonel MacKenzie. He breathed a sigh of relief; he had almost gotten away with it when a familiar voice hailed him, "Commander, sir?"

Wearily he turned, "Hello, Gunny, good to see you back on your feet. But you don't call me 'Commander' or 'sir', any more. I'm not in your navy now." His voice, he was proud to note had stayed firm and he sounded like he was in control, when what he really wanted to do was scream to the heavens at the unfairness of it all.

Gunnery Sergeant Galindez however was not fooled, he had seen the grimace that had crossed Harm's face, and was silently cursing himself for having opened his mouth too far and plunged his whole foot in it. Trying to make amends, he stepped forward and held out his hand, "Maybe not, Mr Rabb, but all the same it is good to see you. Are you visiting? Can I walk you up?"

"No, no thank you Gunny, I've just dropped off a delivery for the Colonel, and I have an urgent appointment out at Charlottesville." He hesitated, "It _is_ good to see you again, Gunny. We should get together for a beer at some stage!" He clapped the other man on the shoulder, and with a quick grin slipped out through the door back into the sunlight, and in a few moments the throaty roar of the Indian's engine could be heard as he peeled out of the parking lot.

Victor Galindez rasped the ball of his thumb over his chin and thought, not in our navy? Like hell, Commander, you _are_ navy! What the hell had the admiral been thinking? His hand went to his breast pocket where this morning he had stowed his signed request for transfer; he would take it upstairs and hand it in directly. He could no longer stomach the thought of working for a man who would leave members of his team behind to face torture and death. He'd had it with these legal-weenies and their shadowy involvement with their half-assed spook games. He was going back to a battalion and the hell with them all!

Lieutenant Colonel Sarah McKenzie put down her phone and stared white-faced across her desk at Lieutenant Roberts.

"Ma'am? Are you alright ma'am?" he asked anxiously struggling to his feet, still not completely comfortable with his prosthetic.

"Oh, God, Bud. What have we done?"

"Ma'am?"

"That... that was the CP downstairs, Comm... Mr Rabb has just delivered a box of the Imes' case files."

"Wow! That was quick work on the Commander's part, ma'am!" Bud was now out of his depth and floundering, but desperately trying to keep a positive outlook. Surely if the Commander had already reviewed those cases then a little bit of the pressure was off.

"No, Bud, you don't understand. He refused to do them. He refused to help us, me..."

Bud could only stare at her in total confusion, "Ma'am?" he repeated helplessly.

"He said he was too busy to do something that wasn't his job any more and that he wasn't going to argue about it..." She stared across her desk at Bud, her eyes full of immeasurable loss.

Bud stared back at her; this was not like the Commander. Sure, he like everybody else at JAG had expected the Admiral to take him back, but to see the Commander walk out of the bull-pen for the last time, without even a backward glance, well that had been shocking enough, but now to hear that he didn't have time to help his oldest and best friend...

But then again, just how much of a friend recently had the Colonel been to the Commander? Nobody at JAG knew what had really happened down there in Paraguay... but there had been scuttlebutt. Of course, everyone knew that the Commander had told the Admiral to stick his regulations where the sun don't shine and had thrown his wings down the Admiral's desk and stormed off down to the Chaco Boreal to rescue the Colonel, and Mr Webb, and Gunny, and then when they'd got back the Admiral kicked the Commander out, so then he'd gone flying for the CIA, but nobody was speaking about that. Not even the Colonel. And that was weird. If somebody had travelled half the world to save him and lost their job over it, he would have gone in to bat for them!

Rabb was now on the open road, relishing the roar of the engine between his legs, the wind of his passage cooling the sun on his face. The Indian wasn't the most nimble of machines, but the I-95 wasn't a particularly demanding route, and neither were the succession of roads from Fredericksburg through to Charlottesville, and the old, heavy motor-cycle was still agile enough to get past the couple of red-light tailbacks he encountered, so it was just about the two hours after he'd left home that he pulled up outside Pop Walchowski's hangar, only to see it adorned with a new sign proclaiming that it was now the home of Grace Aviation and Crop Dusting.

As he removed his aviator's shades and crash helmet a girl in her mid teens, maybe fourteen or fifteen years old, her riot of copper curls caught back in a messy pony tail walked to meet him, and gave him a casual but cheery greeting, "Hey."

Dismounting from the saddle he nodded amiably, "Hey yourself; Pop Walchowski still around?"

She answered his question with one of her own, "How long since you been here?"

He shrugged and admitted, "It's been a while; too long, by the looks of things."

"Pop Walchowski sold out; this is Grace Aviation's hangar now. I'm Mathilda Grace," she continued, offering her hand, "friends call me Mattie..."

He took her hand, "Hi."

"We got your message, and pulled her out," she said indicating his airplane, "she's a beauty. Are you going to take her up?"

He shook his head, "No, I'm going to change the plugs."

"Wanna hand?" Her offer surprised him, and he turned to look at her more closely, and although he smiled, his expression held more than just a hint of condescension.

"You know how to change plugs?"

"My dad taught me how to change out plugs when I was six," she replied confidently.

"Now, why would he do that?"

"I wouldn't take no for an answer," she grinned mischievously, and then her face sobered and she added, "and besides, he needed the help." She paused, squinting up at him as he was silhouetted against the dazzling sky, "What do they call you?"

"Well, my friends call me Harm."

She smiled, a frank openly amused smile, "Well Harm," and she added just the slightest emphasis on his name, "we got one thing in common - we both got goofy names!"

What could have been insulting was mitigated by her inclusion of her own name, her open smile and her ingenous air, and Harm felt himself compelled to share in her amusement.

Three-quarters of an hour later having watched her closely as she helped with the plug change, Harm was satisfied that Mattie did know her way around an airplane engine, but was still faintly amused by her assumption of maturity and by her general air of being older than her years, "How old are you, anyway?" he asked her, no longer able to rein in his curiosity.

"Old enough to know not to answer that question," she replied cynically, and indicating the tool box, demanded "three-quarter open-end." Taking the tool from him, she turned her attention back to the engine before asking him, "Want a job crop-dusting?"

His grin was a half-snort of amusement as he replied, "Why? Do I look that desperate to you?"

She finished what she was doing and stepped back from the airplane, wiping her hands clean on a wad of cotton waste. "No, I figure you know how to fly a Stearman, and we're a pilot short. One of our regular guys had a wire-strike two days ago."

Harm's forehead creased in a frown of sympathy for a fellow-pilot's misfortune, "He OK?"

"Well... let's just say it didn't do him any good." But her down cast eyes suggested that she was also down-playing the seriousness of the other pilot's condition.

"Uh-huh. And what's it pay?"

"Three hundred a day." Her eyes fixed on him contained a strange mixture of hope and earnestness.

"Well, I'm gonna need to talk to your dad, then I guess."

"He's... uh... dusting the back forty over on the Pearson ranch, but you can talk to me. I handle all the hiring and the paperwork since my Mom..." Her face became solemn and she stopped what she was saying.

Harm allowed her a few seconds to see if she was going to continue, but her face had become closed, and she stayed silent.

"What happened?" he asked gently but looking at her keenly from under concerned brows.

"Precisely none of your business," she replied sharply with a frown that seemed to reflect distress and spun on her heel to face away from him before she walked over to a mobile tool-chest. "Besides, I don't know you well enough for you to see me cry."

Harm gave her few seconds more to compose herself and watched as she started to clean the oil and grease off the tools she had been using. "I may know exactly how you feel," he told her as he took a couple of steps in her direction.

"You lose someone, too?" Mattie asked in a subdued voice, keeping her eyes averted from him.

"Uh, yeah... I... uh, lost my Dad, when I was five. He was a pilot too."

"Did you ever get over it?"

His blunt, "No", surprised her and Mattie turned her head to look straight at him for the first time since she had turned away from him, before she again looked down at the wrench in her hand.

"That's comforting," she said bitterly and with heavy irony.

Harm continued to watch her closely, "I figured you could handle the truth," he told her after a few more moments of silence.

"Sometimes." She agreed, but then continued in a more subdued voice, "Sometimes, I have a hard time sleeping at night."

It almost sounded as if he was forcing a confession out of her, but his voice was gentle when he asked, "Dreaming about her?"

She looked up at him standing at her side and managed a choked, "Yeah. And then when I wake up in the morning," her voice was now thick with unshed tears, "she dies all over again." She finished her sentence with a defiant sniff, but blotted her eye with the cuff of her sweat shirt sleeve, and gulped, "Now see what you've made me do!"

Harm took a step towards her, and reached out a hand, wanting to let her be a little girl grieving for her mother, but she stopped him with a raised palm and snapped, "No don't! It just makes it worse!"

He raised his own hands in a gesture of surrender and took a half-pace backwards, "I'm sorry," he said, "I guess I'm not much of a hand with kids." Mattie made no reply, but the two of them stood looking at each other for long moments.

To help Mattie regain some measure of composure after her revelations, Harm turned to leave, and Mattie turned with him, walking him out. "Does Grace Aviation have a health plan?" he asked her, not expecting anything other than the snort of amusement she gave in reply, "Most guys don't last long enough to qualify. So You can start tomorrow, show up by eleven, and I'll give you the word. You'll be here, right?"

"Yeah, I'll be here."

"Bring your lunch," Mattie grinned at him and disappeared back into the darkness of the hangar, leaving him to stare after her with a puzzled frown and an amused smile on his face.

Just under two hours later he knocked gently on the doorjamb of Esther Gale's room in the Kresge Long Term Healthcare Facility in Pimmit Hills. He had stopped briefly a half an hour ago to call Catherine's cell 'phone and she had assured him she was leaving the office, but apart from Mrs Gale sat propped up with pillows the room was empty. Until Esther Gale filled it with a beaming smile which she directed at him, as she put down her magazine and exclaimed with what seemed to be real pleasure, "Commander!"

Harm stayed by the door, despite her apparent welcome, not entirely sure of his reception and wishing that Catherine had got here before him, or at least at the same time. He made a vague gesture with one hand and said "Hi, I thought I'd just stop by and see how you were doing."

"Well, still above ground," she quipped, and then continued, "I haven't seen you for five months, and then I see you on television!"

"Yeah, well who didn't?" he replied ruefully.

"So, now you're working for the Company?"

"Uh... well... not any more. I got canned."

"Oh, that's unfortunate. And now?"

"Well, now," he answered, reaching out to draw a chair nearer to the bed, "I'm working for a fourteen-year-old, dusting crops."

"You do lead a varied life," she told him, and he got the feeling that she was teasing him slightly but not unkindly.

"Well, if by that you mean I can't hold down a job..."

She shook her head gently, a smile still on her face, "What I mean is that it's too bad you're not in love with my daughter." She gave him an opportunity to respond, but when he kept silent, she shook her head again, but this time in a mock scold and with her eyes full of mischief, asked him, "You didn't really marry her did you?"

Her good humour was infectious, and her apparent lack of having taken offence was a relief, and he smiled back at her, not making the slightest attempt to deny her accusation, "How long have you known?"

"I suspected it that night, but I wanted to give Catherine the pleasure of pleasing me, and I didn't expect to live long enough to let her know I was on to her..."

Before Harm could formulate a reply, Catherine, well wrapped in a camel coloured winter-weight coat entered the room, and smiled brightly at him, "Darling," she said, "What are you doing here...?"

She was interrupted by an impatient snort from her mother, "Oh put a cork it in it Catherine! And," casting a loaded glance at her daughter's midriff she added, "you can take that coat off - it's not hiding anything!"

Catherine gave Harm a look of long-suffering resignation and untying the belt, she slipped the coat off her shoulders as Harm stood to surrender his chair to her.

"You didn't have anything to do with that, did you?" Esther challenged Harm as Catherine's bump was finally revealed to her mother.

"Uh... I'm told no," he asserted, as he hung the offending coat on a peg on the back of the door.

"I'm sure you'd have remembered if you did!" she told him, and once again the mischief shone in her eyes and she alternated her gaze between Harm and Catherine.

"If I'm going to be a grandmother," she challenged her daughter, "maybe you can tell me the name of the father?"

Catherine blanched and shot a stricken look at Harm, "I... I think I'm going to be sick," she muttered and fled the room.

Harm sighed and sat down again as Esther turned to him, and in response to his sigh, she observed, "It sounds like you have a lot on your mind, Commander?"

"Well... have you ever had your life turned upside down?" he asked her.

"Ever had your heart stop beating?" she riposted.

"Touché!" He acknowledged her trumping his opening bid.

"Tell me," she said, the amusement gone from her voice, but her tone still gently sympathetic, "why did you come by?"

"I enjoyed being a part of your family, I guess," he gave an embarrassed half-shrug and a somewhat shame-faced grin, "even if only for a brief moment." He added his last phrase with self-abnegating downturn of his mouth.

Esther Gale smiled at him sympathetically again, "That's both sad and touching at the same time," she told him. And then drew a deep breath, "I feel so lucky," and to explain her apparent non-sequitur as his eyebrows rose questioningly, she hastened to explain, her irrepressible spirit shining clear again, "I haven't felt this alive in years: Mock weddings, the prospect of bastards in the family, reckless aviators. Is it exciting dusting crops?"

Her good humour again ignited his smile, "I'll let you know after tomorrow!"

Her smile faded as she looked at him with real concern, "You do know what you're doing? She asked.

"I hope so," he replied, as Catherine returned from the bathroom.

Esther transferred her attention to her daughter as Harm settled her in his just vacated chair, and perched on the foot of the bed. "Now, Catherine, are you ready to tell me who the father of my new grandchild is?"

Catherine cast an imploring look at Harm, who smiled at her, and leaning forward took her hand in his, "Uh... that will be me," he said.

Esther Gale looked at them both, frankly puzzled, "But... I thought... I thought you said that the baby... that you weren't involved...?"

"No, I wasn't involved. But I'm going to be in the future." He looked at Catherine, who seemed to have difficulty in meeting either his or her mother's eyes. "Your daughter and I are in the middle of negotiations about that right now. And that's why we both came here to see you this evening. It's alright Catherine," he assured her, giving her hand a gentle squeeze, "We didn't have to 'fess up, your Mom's already figured us out." Turning his attention back to Esther Gale, he explained, "Catherine and I are going to try and raise this baby together."

Esther Gale's eyes shone with delight for a moment until the realities of their situation pushed their way back into the forefront of her mind. "But, the real father...?"

"The real father doesn't know, Mom. He doesn't need to know."

"But the birth certificate...?"

"Will have my name on it as the father, Mrs Gale."

"But..."

Harm took a deep breath. "I know what it's like to have a childhood without a father. My father went MIA over Vietnam when I was five. I'm in a position now where I can provide Catherine's baby with the kind of support that I got from my Mom's second husband. Support that I was way too slow in recognising, partly because I was too old, too stubborn and too pig-headed. Hopefully by my being there for this baby from day one, we can get past that and give her a stable, loving home."

"But you're still not in love with each other?" Esther asked worriedly.

"No... No, we're not, Mom, but... Harm's a good man, and I do care for him... a lot. And when I needed someone to talk to about this mess, well he was the one person I knew I could rely on for help and advice. We don't have that grand passion, Mom, but we're comfortable with each other, and we've talked about this. We think we can make it work."

"Oh, Catherine, I don't want you to settle, I want you to be happy..."

"Mom, I thought I'd found that grand passion," Catherine grinned mirthlessly, "that's how I got into this state in the first place, and now I know I made a mistake. A huge mistake. And, Mom, it hurts, the father hurt me - oh, no, not physically - and I know that Harm will never allow himself to hurt me, or her." And she placed her hand on her baby-bump.

"Her? You know?"

"Yes, Mom, sonogram after sonogram. Over ninety per cent sure now. All the tests are good; the doctors tell me I've got a perfectly healthy little girl in here, who'll be joining us in a little over three months."

"Well!" Esther Gale hitched herself higher up against the pillows behind her, "I guess I'll just have to make sure that I stick around long enough to meet her then, won't I?"

"Mom, you damn' well better had!" Catherine said fiercely as she slipped off the chair and releasing Harm's hand, took her mother into a tight hug.

"And does this mean, now that your secrets are all out in the open, that I get to see my daughter maybe just a little more frequently?" Esther demanded as she folded her arms around Catherine.

"Yes, ma'am," Harm contributed, smiling as mother and daughter held on to each other, "It's all part of the family care package I've got planned."

Both women looked at him with suspiciously moist eyes, and as Catherine made to rise, he held out a helping hand to her and guided her back into the chair. Esther watched him closely, seeking for an ulterior motive perhaps, or maybe some sign that he'd had to think about what he was doing, but was relieved when she realised that his actions had been natural, unplanned and unthinking.

Catherine however challenged him, "What's this family care package, and why don't I know about it?"

Harm settled back on the foot of the bed, crossed his arms on his chest and said, "Well, it's a kind of the whole thing. I look after your physical health: I make sure that you don't try to lift stuff that's too heavy for you - including, he frowned at her, "archive boxes, files more than two inches thick, grocery sacks that weigh more than ten pounds..."

"Do I get to do any lifting?" she demanded, half amused and half exasperated.

"Uh... yes..." Her interruption had disrupted his train of thought, "But we can go into details later... It also means..." he glowered at her, daring her to interrupt, "that I get to pamper you. I get to give you foot rubs when your feet hurt, I get to give you gentle back rubs when your back aches, I get to go to the all-night grocery store when we've run out of the pickles that you just have to have at oh-two-hundred hours..."

"Hey, hey, hold on there just a minute..." Catherine protested, "Where did you get all this stuff, anyhow?"

Harm looked invincibly smug as he grinned at her in what could only be called a patronising manner, "'Need to Know', Catherine, and," he paused for maximum dramatic effect, "You don't!"

Catherine's furious spluttering was totally drowned out by his whoop of laughter, "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you." He mopped the tears of laughter from his eyes, and told her between chuckles, "You have... no idea, just... how long I've... waited, to say that... to a spook!" But internally he was thanking Harriett Sims for all the insights she had given him while she had been coping with her first two pregnancies.

Catherine was caught between a desire to smack him upside the head and laugh along with him, while Esther, her face alive with mingled curiosity and joy alternated her gaze between the two of them. This might not be such a crazy idea after all, there was something between her daughter and Harmon Rabb Junior, and perhaps with a little bit of judicious fanning, that ember might become more than just a glow... But he was speaking again, and although there was still laughter in his eyes, his voice was perfectly serious.

"And I also get to look out for your emotional health. And that includes making sure that we visit your Mom on at least a regular basis, and more frequently than that if we can."

Catherine stopped her fuming and took another long look at the man who in less than twenty four hours had taken her carefully ordered world, picked it up and given it a good shaking, just as if her life had been encapsulated inside a snow-globe. Then it came to her: in some respects, with her concern for privacy and control and the way she had cut herself off from other people, and for no good reason, her life had become a snow-globe, and if she'd had to pick anybody to give it a damn' good shake, then Harmon Rabb would have been right at the top of her list.


	3. Chapter 3

**3**

Petty Officer Legalman Second Class Jennifer Coates was feeling indecisive. This was not a normal state of affairs for her. She was impulsive by nature and usually went after what she wanted, guided by an instinct for what was right and what was wrong. And this whole situation with the Commander, the Colonel and the Admiral went way beyond wrong. She wasn't aware of all the facts, hell, no-one in JAG HQ knew exactly what had happened down there in Paraguay, but it had been painfully obvious when the Colonel and Commander had returned that they were barely on speaking terms. Now the Admiral had refused to take the Commander back, the Colonel seemed to be dating Mr Webb, the CIA agent who had got them all into trouble in the first place, and the Admiral seemed to have had a sense of humour by-pass. Now the Imes' case had placed an ever-increasing strain on an office that was already creaking under the weight of losing the one man who seemed to have been able to motivate the entire Ops section.

Jen gulped, apart from the ill-effects of the Commander's absence from JAG, she considered that she owed him an enormous personal debt. Two and a half years ago, he had convinced her that under her façade of a rebellious trouble maker that there was a sailor worth saving, and that he had cared had been enough for her to make an effort to save that sailor. His faith in her had been sufficient for her to make the effort to turn her life around, and she felt that she needed to make the same sort of effort to help him. So knocking on Colonel MacKenzie's doorjamb she nervously waited for permission to enter.

Mac looked up at the knock, "Come in Legalman, what is it?"

"Ma'am, what's happening with the Commander, please?"

Mac sighed; like so many of the enlisted personnel at JAG when Jen said 'the Commander' she wasn't talking about Sturgis Turner, she meant Harm. "Petty Officer, there is no 'Commander'. Mr Rabb resigned from the Navy."

"Yes, ma'am. Ma'am, permission to speak freely?"

Mac resigned herself to being on the receiving end of an outburst of insubordination, but she was aware of how Coates regarded Harm as little less than a god, and knew that the Petty Officer saw herself as indebted to him. She threw a resigned look at Jen and said, "Alright Legalman, let me have it."

"Ma'am, the Comm… Mr Rabb resigned from the navy to go to Paraguay to save you. And when you came back you were barely talking. No, that doesn't really matter ma'am, but you just stood by and let the Admiral kick him out, and ma'am, no matter what happened between you, don't you think that that's being just a little ungrateful?"

Mac felt her cheeks warm, but keeping her voice level said, "Legalman, whatever passed between myself and Mr Rabb is none of your business. Is that understood?"

"Oh, yes, ma'am, perfectly clear; but I wasn't talking about your personal lives, I was asking why you didn't stand up for the… for Mr Rabb when the Admiral threw him out."

"Petty Officer, I tried talking to the Admiral, but he told me quite plainly that if I persisted in my advocacy of Mr Rabb, then I would face charges of insubordination."

"Then ma'am, that's worse than ingratitude. That's cowardice! The Commander gave up everything to go and look for you, and you're worried about an insubordination write up!"

Mac winced, there was just enough truth in Coates' accusation to sting. "I think, Petty Officer, that permission to speak freely or not, that you are in very grave danger of crossing the line! Dismissed!"

"Aye, aye, ma'am!"

Mac watched Coates leave her office, and buried her face in her hands. This was all turning into a nightmare! She was distracted by a second interruption, and looked up to see that Gunnery Sergeant Galindez was waiting for her attention. Mac felt like smiling, Galindez was not only a marine, with an entirely different outlook on life than all the squids they were surrounded by, but he had been in Paraguay and with the Commander's… no, with Harm's help, had extricated herself and Clay from Sadiq's clutches.

"How can I help you, Gunny?"

Galindez looked at her intently, his dark eyes not leaving hers as he handed her a folded sheet of paper. "Application for posting, ma'am."

"Posting Gunny?" Mac was startled. As far as she knew, Victor Galindez was happy with his job as well as being damn' good at it, not only as an administrator, but also as a disciplinarian. The enlisted personnel in Ops had never been quite so smartly turned out and never before had they been so much with the programme.

"Yes, ma'am!" He was stood at attention, but his eyes remained locked on hers.

Mac unfolded the sheet of paper… yes; all the blanks were filled in, but…

"Gunny, under 'reasons for request', you've put down 'personal reasons'…"

"Yes, ma'am. Safer… uh… More diplomatic that way."

Mac looked at him as she re-folded the application and idly tapped a corner of it on her desk. "OK, Gunny, give; what's the real reason?"

"Do you want the truth, ma'am? Are you sure you can handle it?"

"Yes, Gunnery Sergeant, I can handle it!"

"Ma'am, I have applied for a posting back to a Marine Corps unit because I no longer have any faith in the command here!"

"Wow! Where did that come from, Gunnery Sergeant?"

"Since we were sold down the river in Paraguay, ma'am! Since we came back here and the one man who had our backs was kicked out of the navy!"

Mac blinked; this had come straight out of left field. Galindez had been the back-up for Webb's operation in the Chaco Boreal, they hadn't needed Harm to come roaring to the rescue with all guns blazing, and his damn' hotdogging in that farmer's plane had nearly killed them both!

"You're way out of line there, Gunny," she reprimanded him.

"If you think I'm out of line, ma'am, then I might as well go for broke. Why haven't you applied for a posting? How can you stay here, working for a man who abandoned you in the middle of an op, a man who left you to face God knows what before Sadiq killed you!"

"But you were there Gunny, we only had to hold on until Webb's back-up got to us!"

"Ma'am, _I_ was Webb's back-up - all of it! When Sadiq took you and Mr Webb, I went back to Ciudad Del Este to see the CIA guy there, - Hardy? Yeah, and when I told him that you and Webb had been taken, he shrugged his damn shoulders and said that was the price for screwing up. Ma'am, the CIA weren't going to do diddly squat to save your six, and neither was JAG! I thought the Admiral was a SEAL, and had the same sort of code as we do: you don't leave a man behind, and if you do, then you damn' well go back in and get him! Well, I knew where Sadiq was holding you, but I was on my own, I had no supplies, no weapons, no nothing. I was never so happy in my life to see anyone when I saw the Commander in that shit-hole of a town! Without the Commander there, I couldn't have done a damn thing to help you, and you ma'am would be dead. So don't ask me to serve here anymore, I can't work for someone who'd sell-out his own people!"

Mac looked at the angry NCO, her mouth open in shock. Webb had had no back-up? Galindez hadn't been able to get them out? The Admiral had abandoned them? Then with an even deeper sense of shock she realised that the Gunny could as well have been talking about her and the way she had abandoned Harm.

x-x-x-x-x

Oh-nine-hundred hours, or nine in the morning, he supposed he'd better get used to civilian time, saw Harm astride the Indian and on the road to Charlottesville. After a little awkwardness, last night's visit to Esther Gale had turned out to be, taking the location into account, fun. Catherine's mother had a lively, if not a wicked, sense of humour and had delighted in teasing both Harm and Catherine about the unorthodox way in which they had decided to have a try at a relationship. It was only later, after they had left the hospital and were having dinner in a quiet little restaurant in Pimmit Hills that either of them realised how much that they had intended to keep quiet she had managed to uncover.

It had been Catherine who had first realised just how much they had disclosed, and putting her fork down, took a drink of water before saying in a conversational tone, "You know, you really did entertain mom this evening. She loved your story about how you and Colonel MacKenzie met."

Harm looked across at her, "She did, didn't she?" he said slowly.

"Yes, although she wasn't quite so amused at hearing about your marathon swim." Catherine hesitated slightly before continuing, "Uh… and neither was I, come to that. Harm, so much of your life seems to have been bound up with Colonel MacKenzie… are you really sure that this…" she indicated herself and her swollen stomach, "is what you really want. I know what you told me, and I know what you told mom, but hearing everything you said this evening…"

"Yes, Catherine I am certain that this is what I want and if everything I said… You're right you know, it was me doing most of the talking, and that's not something… Catherine, your mom would have made a great attorney - once she learned to stop leading the witness!"

"H'mmm," Catherine smiled, "Where do you think I got it from?"

Harm looked at her suddenly caught by an indescribable feeling, "Yeah," he said thoughtfully.

The rest of their meal had passed in inconsequential and desultory conversation as each of them explored the other's tastes in music, books, films, and theatre. Most of Catherine's choices Harm could accept with equanimity, but her declared preference for the genre of films he had no difficulty in categorizing as 'chick flics' caused him to wince, while his confession that he'd only had a TV since the days of the _Angelshark_ investigation made her wonder what he did for entertainment.

"It's going to be a big adjustment, Harm, for both of us. Neither of us is really used to sharing our lives with other people. Oh, I'm sure you've had girlfriends, and I've had at least one boyfriend," she grinned, the skin at the corners of her eyes crinkling in way that showed she was in the habit of expressing her happiness.

"Yeah, I can see that!" Harm felt revived by Catherine's flash of humour and the genuine amusement of her smile. He had, he realised become used over the years to have a woman's smile used as a weapon, to coerce him into something he really didn't want to do, or as a reward, but rarely had he seen it used as an expression of honest emotions.

The meal ended, he had walked Catherine to her car and gently kissed her on the cheek she proffered for that purpose before making arrangements for them to meet at his loft the following evening and bidding each other a good night.

Now it was just short of ten forty five hours as he gently braked to a halt in front of Grace Aviation's hangar, where Mattie, his boss, he reminded himself with a huge grin, was giving one of her ground crew a bit of a hard time, as he pumped chemicals into the reservoir of the Ag-Cat, "Hurry up! This should have been loaded by now!" she told him in an exasperated tone, and then turning to Harm she carried on with her briefing, "You'll be spraying def on two hundred acres of mature cotton…"

"What is def?" Harm demanded as he checked the movement of the control surfaces of the airplane, "and why would I spray it on a mature crop?"

"Def is a defoliant, it tricks the cotton into dropping its leaves, it makes it easier for the mechanical harvesters."

"Got it!"

"The application is five gallons per acre. We've taken care of the mix and the spray nozzles are set to the correct pressure."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah, you should walk the field first, check for power lines and any other obstacles, and also make sure you watch the wind speed and direction; we don't want any off-target drift, so stay low," Mattie broke off her briefing and turned to the ground crewman, "Hey, hey, hey, Frank!"

"How low is low?" Harm asked, wanting to make sure that he had all the necessary instructions. As he'd had it hammered into him a flight school, hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.

Mattie turned back to him for an instant before she continued reprimanding the hapless Frank, "Optimum, is eight feet above the deck!"

Forty-five minutes later he was flying eight and eighty. Eight feet above ground level at eighty knots and climbing at each end of the field to gain enough height to make a turn without dropping a wing tip into the ground, and Harm was enjoying himself, or at least he was enjoying the novelty of flying so low, much lower than could ever be done in a Tomcat and the closeness of the ground made his apparent speed much greater. Whoa! That tree at the far end of the field was right on his line, more throttle, pull back on the stick and oh, yeah, shut off the flow of def! Yep, made it, but as he turned for the next down-wind leg he noticed a battered pick-up truck tearing up a cloud of dust along the dirt road that bordered the cotton-field. He was just able to make out the faded legend 'Grace Aviation' on the door panel, but was easily able to identify Mattie behind the wheel, her copper-coloured pony tail flying behind her as she craned out of the window as she looked up at her newest employee. But what the hell was Mattie doing driving? He could have sworn that she'd told him she was fourteen, and that was eighteen months younger than the minimum age to apply for a learner's permit! What was she thinking! But even with the distance between them he could see the huge grin on her face and couldn't help but respond to the first really friendly, open smile he'd seen in weeks. Weeks? Hell, months! Whoops! Power lines at this end of the field, back on the stick and, bank right for the upwind leg.

Two legs later he saw that the pick-up had stopped and Mattie was sat on the flatbed of the truck and appeared to be enjoying her lunch, at least she'd had the sense to stay more or less upwind of the field so she shouldn't get a lungful of the crap he was pouring out over the cotton! Well, another two, maybe three legs and he'd be heading back for the airstrip, and his own lunch. Yeah, he could just about go a pasta salad, and maybe a beer to wash it down.

Two runs later the hiss of compressed air and the gauge-needle bouncing of the 'Empty' stop told him his work was completed, so one more fly-by where Mattie still sat on the truck's bed and he waggled his wings and turned back towards home-base.

A smooth turn upwind and a few seconds of gradually reduced power brought the Ag-Cat's wheels gently rolling down the asphalt and on to the taxi-way back to Grace Aviation's hangar. Like the Stearman, the high nose of the airplane made it essential that he weave from side to side in order to make sure his path was clear. Blipping the engine to clear the cylinders, he rolled to a stop outside the hangar and climbed out of the cockpit, flipping a friendly half-salute to Frank and another of the ground crew as they trotted forward to push the airplane into the hangar.

As Harm stretched his back - Ag-Cats weren't exactly designed for six feet plus tall pilots - the Grace Aviation Pickup rolled around the side of the hangar and a cheerful Mattie jumped out of the cab and strode towards him.

"You're good!" She exclaimed happily, "Real good!"

"Well, thanks," he grinned, slightly amused at having his flying abilities evaluated by a teenager. "I've been flying since I was your age. So how long have you been driving?"

Mattie smiled, a little self-consciously, "The sheriff knows me, so it isn't a problem. Here's your pay. We run an all cash business here, so it's up to you to report your income and pay your taxes. You're not going to count it?" She asked with a note of surprise in her voice as he tucked the envelope into his pocket.

"I'm sure it's all there," Harm replied with a straight face, but with a twinkle of amusement in his eye.

"Well, I've got work for you tomorrow…"

"Good! See you later, boss," he called as he turned towards the Indian.

"What's your hurry? You got a hot date?" She called after him.

Harm chuckled and gave her a half-wave, half-wave off as he continued on his way to his motor-cycle, leaving Mattie to stare after him with a half-smile on her face

x-x-x-x-x

"I can get those, Harm," Catherine told him as she put her weight on the edge of the table to help herself out of her seat.

Harm stopped in the middle of clearing the dirty dishes from the table. "Catherine, you are not going to pull all this feminist 'I'm a modern woman and I don't need a man' BS on me, are you?"

Catherine glowered at him, but biting back the angry retort that was on the tip of her tongue, she said in a tone of sweet reason, "Well, I am a modern woman, and I've managed my life pretty well so far without a man… Uh, why are you looking at me like I just said something particularly dumb?"

Harm stayed silent, but just cocked an eyebrow and stared meaningfully at Catherine's baby bump, which was particularly evident this evening in the charcoal grey stretch-knit wool dress she had chosen.

Catherine followed the direction of his glance and looking down suddenly gave a gurgle of laughter. "Oh, I guess, in this situation what I said was pretty dumb, after all!"

"Yeah, it was a bit. Let me just drop this stuff at the sink, then I'll get some cushions sorted out for you, and then you can complain about your day while I brew a pot of tea… or if you prefer, decaf coffee?"

"Oh, let it be the tea, please. If I drink coffee, then I'd much rather have the real thing." Catherine lamented as she made her way to the couch,"But this young lady here," she stroked her bump, "has decided that I can't have any coffee for a good while yet! I just hope I'll be able to have the occasional cup while I'm nursing!" She waited for a few seconds while Harm stacked a couple of cushions for her back and then sank back onto the couch with a sigh - almost a groan - of relief. She leaned back and out of the need to relieve tension she closed her eyes… just for a second.

"Catherine… Catherine… Hey, boo'ful… your tea's ready."

Catherine blinked and as her eyes opened she realised that she had slid down in the couch and that she had been completely out of it for… "Oh, how long was I out?" she asked, her cheeks and ears showing a faint tinge of embarrassed pink.

"Only for as long as it took to make the tea, but you were really gone for those few minutes!" There was amusement in Harm's voice, but his eyes showed a touch of concern.

"Well, it gets a bit tiring, hauling this around with me all day!" Catherine grumbled, but in a not-very-serious tone and taking an appreciative sip of her tea. "Ohhh, this is good! What is it?"

"Raspberry and rose hip," Harm said, sitting beside her.

"Is this all part of the care package you've been cooking up?" she challenged him.

"Yes, ma'am. It all goes together, like…" Harm broke off in confusion, he'd been about to say 'like a horse and carriage', but that line had connotations that he didn't think Catherine was ready to face, and for certain sure he wasn't… well, not yet anyway.

"Like?" Catherine prompted him

"Abbott and Costello?" he ventured.

"Yeah, right!" Catherine looked at him suspiciously over the rim of her mug. "And what else does this care package involve?"

"Well, just like I said," Harm told her as he draped his arm along the back of the couch behind her, "You get the full package, foot massages, back rubs. I go shopping with you, so you don't have to carry anything heavy. I go to your ante-natal appointments - if you want me there, and the same for your Lamaze classes, unless you already have a birthing partner?"

Catherine turned her head to look at him in some surprise, "You really mean all that, don't you?"

"Yeah, of course, I wouldn't have said it if I hadn't meant it!"

Catherine lay back against the cushions and either didn't notice, or didn't mind that her head was now resting on his arm. "OK, then, next Tuesday - monthly visit to the OB/Gyn at Kresge."

"Sure. What is your schedule for visits?"

"Next week is the last monthly visit. Then after that they step up to once every two weeks for the next six weeks, then once a week from there on in until she decides to put in an appearance." And then with a somewhat sheepish expression Catherine admitted, "Umm… I haven't got a Lamaze partner, so I… Uh… haven't been going to any classes."

"You haven't? I thought all women went to Lamaze these days!" Harm's face was such a picture of surprise that Catherine nearly laughed outright, until she suddenly gasped, and pressed a hand to her stomach.

"Oof!" She exclaimed on a sharp exhalation.

"What is it? Are you alright? Should I call…?"

"No, no… everything's fine! It's just that somebody is being a little more active than... Ouch! There she goes again. Here, give me your hand." Catherine grasped Harm's hand and placed it on her bump. "There do you feel that?"

Harm's face took on an expression of awe as his hand felt a definite impact as Catherine's unborn daughter kicked out vigorously. "Does… does that happen often?" he asked in a whisper.

"M'mmm… although she's a bit early this evening." Catherine smiled fondly, "the little monster usually waits until I'm just dropping off to sleep, before she decides to take her exercise. Perhaps it's all this healthy food you're forcing on me; and what she really needs is a nice juicy steak…"

"Ugh! You're as bad as…" Harm stopped in confusion.

"Colonel MacKenzie?" Catherine supplied.

"Uh, yeah. But look Catherine, you don't have to worry about Mac, but it's like you said last night, she's been in my life for years, and there are bound to be things that crop up that remind me of her. But I am over her, my sole focus of attention now is you and… have you thought about a name?"

"Oh… nice deflection, counselor," Catherine said in mock admiration, "but I'll let you slide on that." For some reason his words had caused a small slight warm glow inside her and she smiled up at him shyly, "As for her name… Elizabeth, after my grandmother, but I haven't decided on a middle name yet, perhaps," and her voice took on a teasing note and her eyes suddenly sparkled with mischief, "Harmony?"

Harm almost shot upright, "God no!"

"What's this? Are you ashamed of your name?"

"No… I'm actually quite proud of it now, but growing up… The poor girl deserves better than that! Can you imagine what a hell her life would be at junior high?"

Catherine regarded him gravely, "Was it bad for you, those years?"

"Yeah, until I got back… uh… until my junior year in high school, the other kids seemed to think that my name wasn't that weird after all, and hey, it wasn't my choice. But an ordinary, plain name is something I would have killed for. It was a relief really to get to the academy where I was either Rabb or Maggot for the first year and Rabb or Midshipman from the second year on."

"Ummm… yeah, I s'pose. Kids can be really cruel, can't they?"

"Hey, what's this? Are you getting all solemn on me?" Harm teased her, trying to coax the sudden melancholy out of her voice.

"No… I'm alright, I guess… probably just a sudden rush of hormones."

"Uh-huh."

x-x-x-x-x

The following morning saw Mac leave the conference room after staff call and follow the admiral to his office.

A J Chegwidden raised an eyebrow, "Was there something in particular bothering you, Colonel?"

"Just a staffing matter that I thought I'd best bring to your attention, sir."

Chegwidden sighed, "Come on in then Mac, and take a seat." He waited until she had made herself comfortable, and then walked around his desk to occupy his own big chair. Mac raises a mental eyebrow at his actions. This time last year he would have taken a seat in the other wing-chair.

"So, what's grabbed your attention, Colonel?"

"We need a replacement admin non-com, sir."

Chegwidden froze in his seat and glared her for a good ten seconds. "Excuse me?" he finally said.

"Gunnery Sergeant Galindez has applied for a posting back to a Marine Battalion, sir." She slid a file folder containing Galindez's completed application across his desk.

Chegwidden reached out and opening the folder read through the application. "Personal reasons?" he queried her.

"Yes, sir."

"And seeing that you have endorsed this application am I to understand that you are aware of these reasons?"

"Yes, sir."

"Would you care to enlighten me as to why the Gunny wants to return to a line unit?"

"No, sir."

"No?" Chegwidden looked at his Chief of Staff in total amazement. "Colonel, I need to know what the hell is going on here - and don't tell me that you don't know or that you can't tell me!"

"I could tell you sir, but I don't think that you really want to know."

"Dammit Colonel, I could order you to tell me!" Chegwidden stood and planted his fists, knuckles down on his desk.

"You could sir, but if you did, you could never be certain that I was telling you the truth."

Chegwidden continued to stare at Mac as he sat down and then dropped his eyes from hers as he passed a hand over his scalp. "What the hell's going on, Mac?"

"Permission to speak freely, sir?"

Chegwidden raised his eyes and looked at her in some surprise, "You've always said what you thought, Mac, and you've never asked me that before."

"Permission, sir?"

"Yes. Granted, go on."

"First off, I asked permission to speak freely because things around here have changed, sir. You've changed. And those changes have made people very uneasy. Gunny Galindez asked to go back to a line unit sir, because he doesn't trust you anymore."

"What?"

"He doesn't trust you to have our, his back, sir."

"What the hell?"

"For one thing, sir, he feels you betrayed him, you betrayed me and you betrayed your code, by leaving us to Sadiq Fahd's not-so-tender mercies." Mac hesitated, "and I'm not so sure that I don't agree with him, sir."

Chegwidden felt his anger rise, "Stand down, Colonel, you're getting dangerously near insubordination!"

"There's more, sir," Mac said, inwardly trembling, but hell, she'd faced up to Sadiq, she could face the admiral's anger.

Chegwidden's face became an icy mask. "Go on then, Colonel."

"Sir, there's also the matter of your treatment of Mr Rabb. People are asking why you threw him to the lions last year when he was charged with Loren Singer's assault, and why you felt it necessary to publicly humiliate him when we got back from Paraguay." Mac was proud of herself, she had just delivered those last two sentences in an unemotional, non-confrontational manner, and she hoped her outer calmness might help convince her CO to respond in the same manner.

"Colonel, I did not throw Rabb to the lions last year. He did that all by himself with his obsessive secrecy concerning Lieutenant Singer's pregnancy, and neither did I publicly humiliate him!"

"Harm… uh… Mr Rabb may have caused the finger of suspicion to be pointed at himself, sir. But he did not issue orders that no-one from this office was to make any contact with him whatsoever while he was awaiting trial. He was denied visitors, and I know this, because despite your orders, I tried to visit him, and was turned away at the Brig by MPs who said they were acting on your instructions. Coates wanted to visit him, but you threatened her with charges. As for your not humiliating him in public, sir, I think that sometimes you forget how penetrating your voice is, and that it can on occasion be heard quite clearly in the bull-pen. Not forgetting of course, sir, that I was present too. If you had caught me reprimanding a member of staff in front of another, you would have ripped me a new one on the spot sir!"

Chegwidden stood again, his face pale with suppressed rage. "There were factors at work in Rabb's case, Colonel of which you were and still are unaware."

"You could try making me aware, sir." Mac shot back at him.

"Watch your tone Colonel! That was insubordination! I will consider your future here when I am calmer, Colonel. In the meantime, dismissed!"

"Aye, aye, sir!" Mac rose to her feet, braced to attention for a count of two and then about faced to let herself out of the door. Closing the door behind her, she let out a sigh of relief and met the anxious stare of Jennifer Coates.

"Ma'am, what's happening, is the Commander coming back… I mean, I heard some of what was said… the Admiral got kinda loud… Sir!" Her last word forced was out of her as the admiral suddenly emerged from his office and silently thrust his empty coffee mug into her hand.

Mac waited until she heard the door click shut behind her before speaking, "Jennifer, tread very, very lightly from here on in. Harm wouldn't want you to end up facing charges because of any sense of personal loyalty, or mistaken belief that you somehow owe him for something. Go and get the admiral his coffee, and try to stay out of trouble, OK?"

"Aye, aye, ma'am. What are we going to do?"

"Like I said, you are going to stay out of trouble; I am going to draft my resignation." With that bombshell bursting behind her Mac left an open mouthed Jennifer and headed for her office, already mentally composing her letter.

Jennifer headed for the galley where brewing a fresh pot of coffee, she returned to the admiral's office and knocked on the doorjamb and on receiving permission to enter, she carefully placed his mug in from of her principal., and then stood at attention.

Chegwidden looked at her over the top of his reading glasses and asked, "What can I do for you, Petty Officer?"

Jen decided to take the bull by the horns, and although desperately nervous she replied, "Sir, I wanted to explain my actions... "

Chegwidden interrupted her, and in a voice roughened by exasperation he said, "No, let me explain them _for you_. You are meddling in affairs that are none of your business..."

"All I wanted was..." Jennifer tried gain to explain.

"No..." Chegwidden stood, removed his glasses and leaning stiff-armed on his knuckles he stated his position, "Petty Officer, I am not interested in what you want, I'm interested in what I need, and what I need is an administrative assistant who does her job and that job only. Is that understood?"

"Sir, I'm still defining the parameters of my duties..." Jen defended herself, wilting as the admiral glared at her, but then made a swift recovery, "with your input, of course, being paramount."

Chegwidden started incredulously at his new Yeoman. Tiner, despite his seven years with Chegwidden, would never have dared to answer him in such a fashion, yet this slip of a girl… "Petty Officer, did... did you just _handle_ me?"

"Of course not, sir."

Again remembering Tiner's surprising disclosure that he was approaching his final year at law school having paid for his own tuition, Chegwidden asked suspiciously, "You are not, by chance, going to law school at night, are you?

"No, sir. Why do you ask?"

Chegwidden replaced his glasses and sighed, and then growled,_ "_Starting to parse the truth like a lawyer!"

"No, sir. I am, however starting to look deeper into the truth, like a psychologist. 'The Human Mind, 101'; the course I'm taking on line."

The damn' girl was laughing at him, that was a definite hint of a grin! He glared at her in disbelief, and then lowering his voice to a hiss he ordered, "Dismissed!"

"Aye, aye, sir!"

Chegwidden watched the door close behind his Yeoman. Absolutely unbelievable. The young woman had been totally respectful, but at the same time had been strikingly insubordinate without a single syllable that he could take exception to crossing her lips!

Jen quietly closed the admiral's door behind her and sagged back against the oak-panelled walls, not certain whether her legs would support her, sighing with relief and closing her eyes. When she opened them again she saw Mac looking at her quizzically.

"Are you alright, Coates?" The young woman looked like she'd just had a rough passage and was definitely looking paler than usual.

"Ma'am, what's 'parse the truth like a lawyer' mean?"

"Uh… it means that you massage the truth to make it say what you want."

"Has he ever accused you of that?"

"All the time," Mac grinned in an effort to encourage and show sympathy for Jen, "I like to think of it as a compliment. Is he free?" she added, nodding at the admiral's door.

"Yes, ma'am, but ma'am… he's pretty mad, ma'am, and when someone is that angry, you know they're hurting inside." Jen froze and turned even paler as Mac assumed an expressionless brace, her gaze fixed at a point over Jen's right shoulder, as the admiral soundlessly pulled open his office door.

"Petty Officer?" Chegwidden's voice was full of menace.

Jen executed a drill-field-crisp about face and whispered through suddenly dry lips, "Sir, I'm so sorry!"

Chegwidden glared at her, thrust a six inch thick stack of files into her hands and glared at her again before stepping back into his office and closing the door.

Jen looked despairingly at Mac, "I can't do anything right, ma'am!"

Mac shook her head in dismay, "None of us can."


	4. Chapter 4

**4**

Catherine let her hands rest on the edge of pool and allowed her feet to drop to the bottom, and turning towards the side waded slowly towards the steps. "Oh, God," she half-moaned, "just look at that bow wave! I feel like I'm the size of the Titanic!"

Harm crouched at the top of the steps and extended a hand to help her out of the water, and protectively draped a large, fluffy towel over her shoulders. "Nonsense," he told her with a smile, "you look fantastic!" and he really did think so. She wore a one-piece black bathing costume that fitted her closely, and unlike the majority of the other pregnant women at the Yorktown Swimming Club closed session had chosen to dispense with the frilly skirt that so many pregnancy swim-suit designers seemed to think de rigeur.

"Well, how did I do?" she demanded.

"Not bad, not bad at all," he told her, "if they had a pregnancy Olympics, you'd definitely make the cut for the swim team!"

"What, no medal?" she teased him.

"Definitely gold," he answered with a smile and gently laying his hands on her shoulders as she turned towards the locker room, dropping a light kiss on the top of her hair.

"Ugh! Chlorine!" he complained as Catherine turned a surprised face towards him. That touch had been the first intimate gesture he had made in public since they had decided to carry out what she still thought of as his crazy plan.

"Serves you right," she told him over her shoulder, her smile contradicting her words as she headed for the sanctuary of the women's showers. Truth be told, she mused as she stood under the warm jet, shampooing the offending chlorine out of her hair, although his gesture hadn't been expected, it wasn't unwelcome. She had been surprised last night though, when she'd told him about her daily early morning swimming sessions.

"Swimming? Uh… not my favourite pastime," he admitted with a grimace.

"Oh?" she'd turned on the couch to look at him more squarely.

"Oh, come on Catherine, you've read my SRB," he reminded her.

"Well, yes, but there is nothing in there about you not liking swimming… Oh, you mean when you had to eject over the Atlantic?"

"Yeah, it kinda put me off water in large quantities," he seemed strangely embarrassed by his admission.

"Well, Yorktown Pool is much smaller than the ocean," she reminded him gently, "and nobody's asking you to join in. In fact you wouldn't be allowed in the water with us, none of you would."

"Uh… None of us?" He seemed strangely diffident, "Do… do the other women's partners go with them?"

"Yes… well… some do, some don't. They sit on the bleachers, hold towels, keep an eye on purses, you know, the kind of things expectant dads do."

Harm smiled abstractedly, clearly thinking of something else. Catherine cocked her head at him, and for a moment she was so like her mother that his smile grew warmer.

"What?" she demanded suspiciously.

"Oh, the way you just looked at me then, the way you tilted your head. Do you know how very much like your mother you are at times?"

"Oooh! That's a terrible thing to say to a pregnant woman!" she mock-scolded him, but was secretly pleased that he had been observing both her and her mother closely enough to pick up on little tricks of behaviour.

"But until you distracted me, I was wondering about all this swimming. Do you go every day?"

"Monday to Friday, before I head on up to Langley. Don't look so worried; it's only for half an hour, and it helps keep me fit. Call me vain if you want, but I'd kinda like to get my figure back after the birth - well most of it anyway."

"Yeah, I can understand that, but aren't you worried that you might be overdoing things?"

"Harm. I'm pregnant - not dying. Besides it's a good form of exercise that uses every muscle group in the body. It's good aerobically, and it is negative impact. And," she added mischievously, "displacing as much water as I do right now, I'm never going to drown!"

Harm was forced to laugh along with her. Catherine had always struck him as somewhat earnest and solemn and controlled, and he found he was enjoying her rare little flashes of humour as much as he enjoyed it when she was fired up over something.

"So… should I pick you up at your place in the morning, or should I just meet you at the pool?" He asked her, rather carefully not looking at her.

"No, it's OK, Harm, you don't have to come," she protested.

"No, I know I don't have to, but I want to."

"Why?" she asked him in a tone of gentle curiosity.

"Uh… because," he looked down at his hands, "I'm finding out that…" he looked up and straight into her eyes, "I like spending time with you, I like finding out about you, I like…"

"Oh… OK, OK, I get the picture!"Catherine protested, not quite sure if this was good thing or not. Yes, Harm was being caring and concerned and she appreciated him wanting to be fully involved in her life, and although she enjoyed his company, she didn't want him getting over-protective, at least not this early in their relationship.

"Umm… I'll tell you what," she suggested, "come over to my place, and then follow me down to Arlington. If we travel in the same vehicle, one of us is going to end up stranded all day. You've got to get on with your new job, so it'll be me stuck all day at Langley without any wheels, and that's not something I'd enjoy too much!"

"OK, what time?"

"Seven o'clock. That'll get us to Arlington for half past, and I'll be finished by about eight-fifteen. Will that allow you to get to your airplane on time?"

"It'll have to," he grinned, "They can't start the job without me, and I don't get hourly paid, so as long as I finish the job, I'm pretty much on flexible hours!"

Now having showered and changed into her first maternity dress - well the secret was out now, why try to hide it - she met Harm as he stood leaning against his Corvette in the parking lot. "See, she teased him, "Here I am, all in one piece and perfectly fit, healthy and happy, and," she paused significantly, "squeaky clean!"

Harm gave her a puzzled look, and she sighed with exasperation. Honestly, he could be so… so… oblivious! "I mean," she said slowly, "that there's no more chlorine!", and even as she said it, she realised that she was being unfair. Even from her limited knowledge of him, she had realised that he was not someone who indulged in open and public romantic displays, and cursing herself for her stupidity she braced himself for his emotional withdrawal. She was consequently taken completely by surprise, when he repeated his poolside action of placing his hands on her shoulder and kissing her hair.

"Ummm… Vanilla, that's much better than chlorine," he smiled, "So, dinner at my place again this evening, then. Seven o'clock?"

Catherine nodded wordlessly and smiled. She was still smiling as she edged in behind the steering wheel of her Malibu Max, and headed towards Langley.

x-x-x-x-x

Mac had arrived at JAG HQ early, as had Sturgis turner and Bud Roberts. With Loren Singer deployed at sea, Carolyn Imes relieved of duty and Harm's resignation, the three remaining senior attorneys were not only struggling to keep abreast of their current case load, but also had the additional pressure of reviewing the more than two hundred cases that Carolyn had prosecuted while masquerading as a bar-qualified attorney. The added stress that Sturgis felt found its expression in hostile comments about his ex-colleague, and his expressed intention to seek the maximum penalty allowed under the UCMJ: seven years at hard labour. Although Mac and Bud also felt a sense of betrayal, Mac was concerned that for once Sturgis was allowing his personal feelings to impinge on his professional life; something of which when it had happened to Harm or Mac in the past, he had been fiercely critical.

Mac had toyed with the idea of asking Sturgis to recuse himself on the grounds of bias, but an inner voice had told her this once to keep her peace. Besides, if Sturgis did recuse himself, who the hell else was there left to prosecute the case, other than the Admiral? And that Mac thought might not be a bad thing from the defence point of view. A counter accusation of undue command influence probably wouldn't get Carolyn acquitted, but it wouldn't do the former SEAL much good either. And that, Mac thought, would at the moment, suit her temper just fine. But… it could also be a career a killer for her. And although she had told Coates that she was considering resigning, unconsciously she was so strongly defined by what she was rather than who she was, that without being aware of the difference between the two concepts, the idea of not being a Marine left her hugely unsettled. But now, she really needed to concentrate on Carolyn's defence. She hesitated for a moment before dialing a familiar number. She could hear the phone at the other end of the line ringing until the voice mail cut in, and the warm, well remembered tones sent a shiver down her spine…

"Hello, Harm, it's Mac. If you're there, please pick up," she paused to allow him to do so but sighed and added, "Harm, call me back, please, it's important. Thanks."

Hanging up, she dialed his cell 'phone number, and again was forced to listen to ringing unanswered, but unlike his house 'phone his voice mail didn't cut in, and eventually she was forced to break the connection. "Dammit, Harm! she exclaimed in frustration, "Speak to me!"

"Is there something wrong, ma'am?" Bud Roberts stood at her open door, a look of concern on his round face.

Mac smiled, despite the loss of his daughter, and the injuries he had sustained in Afghanistan, there was, despite the extra lines on his face, and the grey in his hair, still something quintessentially innocent about Bud. He had become a fine attorney, and Mac had no doubt that had it not been for his injury he would have won his bronze oak leaves months ago.

"No, Bud, I'm just trying to get an answer from one of the most stubborn jerks, I've ever met!"

Bud frowned, "Ma'am, the Commander has moved on… he's flying again, for some small outfit down in Charlottesville," he said diffidently.

"Oh, I realise he's moved on Bud!" And Mac couldn't help the edge of bitterness in her voice, "he's made that perfectly clear. "But this isn't personal; I want to summon him as witness for Carolyn Imes' defence." A sudden thought struck her. "Bud, how do you know what Harm's doing?" she asked conversationally, as if it didn't really matter to her.

Bud winced, once again he could feel himself getting caught up in whatever game his two friends were playing, "Uh… he stopped by the house the other afternoon, just for few minutes, to say hi to Harriett and to drop off a little gift for Jimmy… and we had a coffee and he sort of told us what he was doing."

"And what is that, exactly, Bud?"

"He's…uh… crop dusting."

Mac looked at him in utter disbelief, "Crop dusting?" she repeated in despairing accents, after a good thirty seconds' silence. "Crop dusting?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Bud blessed Jennifer Coates as she walked across the bull-pen to Mac's office and rapped on the doorjamb, enabling him to make an unobtrusive withdrawal before Mac gave him the third degree. "Good morning, ma'am, sir. Ma'am, I have some personnel papers for your attention…"

Mac grimaced, this was the down side of being Chief of Staff. While Harriett was still out on maternity leave, even routine personnel matters ended up on her desk. She held out her hand and Jennifer passed her a file folder. Mac took a quick glance at the top folio, and then with increasing speed through the rest of the sheets of paper. "Coates," she said in disbelief, "is this a joke? Is there anyone in Ops who hasn't filled in one of these?"

"One or two of us ma'am, and as far as I can tell, they're not joking ma'am."

"You haven't completed one?"

"No ma'am."

"I'd have thought that you would have been one of the first, Coates."

"No ma'am. Two reasons, first the Admiral's my boss, right or wrong, I owe him some loyalty. Secondly, if I bail, who else is there to step up to the plate for the Commander?"

Damn! Mac thought, she's throwing loyalty back in my face again! "I see. You do realise Coates, and I hope that these people realise, that there isn't a hope in hell of any of these being approved?"

"Yes, ma'am, but they will be on record as having applied."

"Coates, if I put these on the Admiral's desk, what do you think will happen?"

"He'll have a stroke, ma'am?" Jen responded brightly.

"He may well have a stroke, Coates," Mac responded dryly, "but he's more than likely to have them all thrown into the brig. Alright, pass the word. I'll speak to all hands in the Conference Room at twelve-hundred hours!"

"Aye, aye, ma'am!"

x-x-x-x-x

Mac returned to her office a state approaching shock. The lunch time meeting with the twenty-three enlisted members of staff who had requested immediate re-assignment had brought home several unpleasant truths, paramount among which was the totally unfair one that they blamed her for Harm's resignation and the Admiral's subsequent expediting of his paper-work and refusal to allow him to rescind his resignation. As Petty Officer Personnel Specialist First Class Ryman had said, "Ma'am, we knew the mission you went on was dangerous. Hell, anyone could tell that as soon as they knew that Webb was involved."

"That's Mr Webb, to you Ryman" she had reprimanded him.

"With all due respect ma'am, no it isn't. Webb isn't in our chain of command, he isn't even in the Navy. He is a civilian, and we owe him nothing in the form of respect. Nothing whatsoever."

Mac looked at him dumbfounded. Ryman was coming up to his sixteenth year of service, yet he had just laid himself wide open to a charge of insubordination and risked losing his entire career. This whole affair was snowballing out of control - fast! But Ryman hadn't finished.

"We knew it was dangerous work, ma'am and when it went belly up, we trusted the Commander to find you and bring you home in one piece. We trusted that you and the Commander would walk through that door the same as you've always done, together. We trusted that the Admiral had known that the Commander would be back and not process his resignation. We trusted that things would return to normal. We trusted the Command. We were right trusting the Commander, but we wrong to trust the Command. If the Command can treat senior officers so badly, what hope have we got of anyone having our backs, ma'am? We want out to an outfit where somebody knows the meaning of loyalty!"

"Ma'am," the account was picked up by Seaman Julia Stewart, "The Commander got you back in one piece, but we saw when you and the Commander came back that you'd been fighting, but we figured that once things had settled down again, you'd end up being friends, like always. But that didn't happen. When the Commander came out of the Admiral's office, and the look on his face... well we'd heard some of what the Admiral yelled at him, and he looked... beaten, he just picked up his stuff, tossed his cover to Tiner, and he just walked out... and ma'am, you just stood there and said nothing... and you didn't even try to stop him! It's like no-one cared anymore, no-one was looking out for anybody else's back, not even their best friends. Ma'am, I can't..." she gestured at the crowded room, "we can't just put that feeling behind us and carry on."

Mac spent the afternoon in daze, what little work she did, she did on auto-pilot, always conscious of the file folder sitting in her in-box. The file folder that contained twenty-three requests for re-assignment. Requests that she was duty bound to forward to the Admiral. And that was not something to which she was looking forward. She had hoped to talk sense into the men and women making the requests, but their reaction had not only been a slap in the face to the JAG command, but also to her personally. OK, it was only Stewart who had more or less openly accused her of disloyalty to Harm, but there had been enough heads nodding in agreement with her to make it plain that she was voicing a majority opinion. She had been judged by her subordinates and had come up short, and that was neither a feeling she liked nor one she could shake off easily.

To make matters worse, Rabb still hadn't returned any of her calls, which meant that as little as she felt like it, she would have to go across town to his apartment this evening and try and speak with him face to face.

x-x-x-x-x

Harm was feeling pretty good, he had enjoyed watching Catherine's enjoyment of her swim, and she had definitely encouraged his approach when she'd told him she'd washed the chlorine out of her hair, although, and he grinned to himself, if the look of surprise on her face was anything to go by, she hadn't really expected him to act.

Now, there was fifteen minutes left before she was due to arrive, just enough time to lightly brown the top of the vegetable Moussaka he'd got in the oven, and for him to decant the alcohol-free white wine. One day, he promised himself, with yet another smile, he'd actually find himself sitting down to dinner with a woman who could enjoy a glass of wine with him, but in the meantime it didn't matter. He enjoyed his evenings with Catherine, and was looking forward to finding a house so they would both be living under the same roof.

The knock at the door disturbed his musings, and a quick glance at his watch told that she'd arrived early; now that was flattering! He crossed to the door and pulled it open, as he did so, his face assumed an expressionless mask-like quality. "Mac," he acknowledged her presence.

"Good evening, Harm, aren't you going to invite me in?" She spoke pleasantly enough, but for those who knew her there was a tight edge to her voice.

Wordlessly he stood back to allow her to enter his home. Mac automatically took her oat off and turned to hang it on the coat rack next to the door when she saw his raised eyebrow, and instead draped it over her arm.

Mac breathed in the aroma of the meal in the oven and took in the formally laid dining table set for two. "H'mm, something smells good," she complimented him.

"Vegetarian Moussaka." He said shortly, "What do you want, Mac? I'm expecting company, so whatever it is, don't beat around the bush, just say what you've got to say and leave."

Mac was taken aback, she had never heard Harm sound so... hostile, but so passionless at the same time. He had seemed so much angrier in Paraguay, but at least there had still been a sense of caring even in his anger, but now that sense of caring had gone. Coming on top of his refusal to help with the Imes cases Mac was suddenly made aware that the man now standing in front of her was no longer the same man that she had worked with for nearly nine years.

"Harm, I know you're mad at me..."

"You don't know anything about the way I feel."

"I would if you'd talk to me! I left seventeen messages on your answer-phone," she snapped.

"One, I've been busy - I haven't been in town much the last few months. And two, I thought we'd done talking - you seemed to make that pretty clear in Paraguay. Do 'never' and 'there is no us' ring a bell Mac?"

"Harm I was mad at you, I said things I didn't mean. You know that!"

"No Mac, I don't know that. How many charges of sexual assault, rape or even sexual harassment have you investigated and prosecuted? How many times have you heard the accused plead, 'I didn't think she meant it'? What would ever make you think that when you said 'never' that I wouldn't respect that decision?"

Mac stared at him. Had she really said those words? Had she really said, 'never'? She made one more try, "I was trying to get a reaction of some sort out of you, I was trying to get you to fight me on that!"

"Mac, when have I ever fought you on the decisions you made in your personal life? When you went after Dalton, I disapproved because I knew he wasn't good enough for you, but I respected your decision. I knew Brumby wasn't good enough for you either, but I didn't interfere then, either. I once asked you, did you love him, and you shut me down. So when I saw you kissing Webb, what was I supposed to think, or do? Mac, I gave up my career to pull you out of yet another of Webb's FUBAR'd ops, and you threw yourself right at him, right at the man whose half-assed planning got you into danger in the first place. That hurt Mac, but do you know what hurt more than that, after all I had given up? You never even said 'thank you'.

"I did!" she protested indignantly.

"When? When exactly, was it after I cut you free from that table with the battery and the red hot steel wool? Or was it after we got back to that ratty hotel? Or while we were waiting for the taxi? Or maybe it was on the flight back to DC? Just when did you say thank you, Mac?" His voice was loaded with both sarcasm and contempt.

Mac frantically searched her memory, she remembered Harm bursting into the torture chamber and gunning down the man who had been about to burn her, he had been so business-like, like a robot, emotionless as he cut her free and helped her out of the room so quickly that there hadn't been time for words. Then he had gone to fix the car for Gunny and Webb, and when he had done that he had bundled them into it, and then she and Harm had trekked off to find that plane. They'd blown up the Stingers, and then he'd crashed the plane and she'd yelled at him for that, then they had shot at each other when she found the truck and they had been so pissed off that they had taken verbal shots at each other all the way back to Ciudad del Este. And then that fiasco in the hotel and by the time the morning had come round they had fought so much they were barely on speaking terms. Then that final argument at the taxi stand and that awful, silent flight back to DC. Oh, God. She closed her eyes in anguish. Harm was right, she hadn't said a single word that might indicate she was grateful to him for saving her life, let alone for the sacrifices he had made to do it.

Mac gulped and looked up at him standing impassively over her, "Harm, I am so sorry. You are right. I thought I had said thank you, but looking back, it seems I never did. So, once again, I am sorry, and I do thank you."

Harm shrugged, "That's just about a day late and a dollar short, Mac," he replied in a bored voice.

Mac was stunned. Harm had yelled at her, he had been sarcastic with her; he had disagreed with her violently both professionally and personally, but never, until now, had he ever sounded indifferent to her, and that stung worse even than his anger or his contempt. She searched around for her purse, but before she could find it, Harm spoke again, "But you didn't come here to talk about the non-existent 'us', did you Mac? Just what did you want?"

"I want you to testify for the defence for Carolyn Imes," she told him as she made an attempt to recover her poise.

"What? What do you think I can say?" His voice was again flattened by displeasure

"You worked with her and against her, you can testify as to her abilities as an attorney and to her character."

"Mac, I don't have time for this, I have a living to make - remember?" he jibed bitterly

"I can subpoena you," she reminded him.

"Fine, OK, when do you want me?"

"Tomorrow morning, Court Room 3, oh-nine hundred hours. You'll be there?."

"OK, I'll be there!" She eyed him askance, but he'd said he'd be there, and short of slapping cuffs on him and dragging him away by force there was nothing else she could do.

She got to her feet and stared at him for a moment, but as she turned towards the door, his voice stopped her again, as he asked her quietly, "Mac, why are you doing this?"

"Why am I doing what?" she asked him, confused by his apparent non-sequitur.

"Why are you still at JAG? Why are you still working for Chegwidden?" For the first time she heard the stirrings of passion in his voice, "How can you do it? How can you stand working for the man who left you behind to be tortured and killed! The same man who forced me into resigning so I could pull you out of a mission that was totally goat-roped, and that he'd approved! Mac, if it had been up to him you would be rotting in an unmarked grave somewhere in Paraguay right now! How can you be sure the next time that an investigation gets FUBAR'd that he won't cut you loose again? Honest to God, Mac, I just don't understand you! What the hell are you thinking?"

Mac was left speechless, all she could do was to start to shrug herself into her coat, and was surprised, although she told herself that she ought not to be, when he helped ease it up over her arms. "Thank you," she said simply, and opened the apartment door to let herself out, only to stop as she came face to face with Harm's intended guest, "Good evening, Miss Gale," she managed to greet the other woman civilly.

"Colonel MacKenzie. An unexpected pleasure," Catherine returned coolly, and stood aside to let the Marine leave the apartment. As Catherine stepped in through the door, she was met by Harm, who without saying a word helped her off with her coat and hung it on the rack for her, unconsciously choosing a peg that Mac hadn't used.

"I wasn't sure if I shouldn't keep my coat on," Catherine remarked innocently.

"Oh, why?"

"Well the atmosphere in here is still a little icy," she tried to quip.

"It'll be fine, Catherine!" he retorted, trying to respond light-heartedly, but even after so short a time of knowing him, Catherine could tell that his guard was up and he was in the process of shutting others, shutting her, out. Catherine gently bit her bottom lip, and walked up to him, laying a hand on his forearm.

"Don't do it, Harm - don't close down. It's obvious that whatever Mac was doing here has upset you, but we made a deal, remember, to be open and honest with each other - thought it was all a part of the care package!"

Harm forced himself to relax, "I'm sorry Catherine, you're right." He drew a deep, shuddering breath and ran his hands through his hair. "Mac came to ask me to testify for the defence in the Imes case. But as always, we ended up fighting, digging into the past and throwing old scores in each other's faces."

"Are you going to testify?" Catherine decided to stay with the current question rather than ask Harm to go delving back into the past again.

"I don't have much option: it was agree or be subpoena'd!"

"Ouch!"

"Yeah. A hell of a way to treat a friend... but the hell with her, let's eat!"

Catherine let Harm seat her at the table, and wisely decided to confine her conversation to a flow of inconsequential chatter until she saw that at last he was beginning to recover his normal even temper. She put her fork down on the side of her plate, and poured herself a second glass of the alcohol free wine, and cocked her head to one side in bird-like imitation of her mother, and with such an innocent expression on her face that Harm was forced to smile.

"Go on, then," he invited her.

"Did you really enjoy watching me swim this morning?" she wanted to know.

It suddenly seemed so long ago that Harm had to think back to try and recapture what he had felt as he'd watched her power seemingly with effort, through the water. As he thought, Catherine's face started to cloud over, "I thought not..." she started to say.

"No, you're wrong there," he corrected her before she could finish a sentence. "The thing is, with all that's happened today, that although I remember you swimming, I had to try and recapture the feelings I had while I watched you."

"H'mm." she replied non-committally, "And what were those oh so suddenly elusive feelings?"

"Well, first off, I enjoyed watching you enjoying yourself. Then I saw just how strong a swimmer you were, it is always good to see a demonstration of mastery of a skill - you looked so at home in the water - and so I started to clock your times, and I was impressed, and I was proud of you."

Catherine blinked, she wasn't really sure what she had expected to hear from him, but she certainly hadn't expected him to say that! Suddenly shy, she dropped her eyes to her plate and for a few seconds concentrated on gathering together enough the fragments that remained to make a respectable mouthful, before raising the fork to her mouth. After chewing and swallowing, she looked at Harm again, "So you don't mind coming with me each morning?"

He flashed a full-blown flyboy grin at her and his eyes crinkled in pleased anticipation, "You just try and stop me!" he stated.

"Oh! I know what it is!" she exclaimed in accents of pretended shock, "it's that little brunette, the one who was almost wearing that bronze bikini!"

Harm who had just take a mouthful of wine gasped and nearly choked as some of the wine went down his trachea instead of his gullet, and forcing his lips shut to prevent from spraying the table was subjected to the uncomfortable feeling of having some of his drink forced up and into his nostrils. Spluttering and dabbing at his tearing eyes, he glared down the length of the table at Catherine who seemed unable to control the giggles that were convulsing her.

When he could finally string together a coherent sentence he rapped his knuckles sharply on the table, causing Catherine to look up at him. By this time her own tears, but of laughter, had left their tracks on her face. "You, young lady," he rebuked her in disapproving accents, "are far too fond of that trick... and too damn' good at!" he finished with his own grin.

"Would... would you believe that it was entirely accidental?" she excused herself hopefully.

"H'mm, I don't know..." he reflected gravely, but with a gleam of laughter in his eye, "the old saying has it that once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, but a third time it's enemy action!"

Catherine smiled happily, whatever hangover from Mac's visit had been bothering him throughout dinner, now seemed to have been banished away. "So, darling," she said with a saccharine smile, "apart from your skirmish with the USMC, how was your day?"

Harm grinned delightedly, "Oh, put a cork in it Catherine!" he scolded her, recognising her tone and the form of address from their confessional visit to Catherine's mother, as he parroted Esther Gale's words..

Catherine wheezed hard a couple of times and intoned, "Harm, you are not my mother!"

Harm laughed outright as he stood up and checked momentarily as he wondered why he didn't mind when Catherine had an instant come-back, while when Mac did the same thing, he so often felt irritated. Oh, well, it didn't really matter why it was so, it just was.

"Let me get the cushions sorted for you, and then madam, you can go and sit down, while I clear the table and make the tea. Raspberry and rosehip still OK, or would you prefer something else?"

"Oh no, that's fine," Catherine said as she gingerly lowered herself to the couch and kicked off her moccasins with a groan of relief. "But those," she complained with a look of loathing at the offending footwear, "used to be my most comfortable pair of shoes, but ever since I put them on this evening, they've been killing my feet!"

Harm busy with kettle, teapot and mugs grinned across the room at her, "And that would be your idea of asking for a foot rub?"

"Oh, no, I'd forgotten you mentioned them... but Oooh, yes, please. Pretty please?"

"We'll have our tea first, then move you around so your feet are up on my lap, and then Miss Gale, have you ever had a foot massage before?"

"Uh, no... why?" she demanded suspiciously as she cuddled her tea mug,

"Then prepare yourself for unbridled ecstasy! This will be almost as good as chocolate!"

"You do realise, Mr Rabb, that you are raising my expectations to an astronomical level?" she asked archly, but with a smile on her face.

"Expectations that I have every intention of fulfilling," he assured her. "Now sit up for a second while I move your cushions to the end of the couch, that's it. Now, scoot back against the arm and let me lift your legs up here... so. Ah, you do realise, that by the time I finish, you're probably going to smell good enough to eat?"

"Oh, why's that?" she asked him as she salvaged her half-mug of tea from the coffee table.

"Because, the only oil I've got to hand this evening is Olive Oil!" he told her, "Is that acceptable?"

"As long as it's not extra virgin!" she giggled.

Harm raised his eyes heavenwards, and sitting on his end of the couch spread a tea towel over his thighs and lifted her feet so they rested on the towel. He poured a little oil on the palm of one hand and briskly rubbed his hands together, before taking one her feet in his hands.

Catherine spent the next twenty minutes in heaven as he gently but firmly eased the pains in her feet and as his skilful fingers found the pressure points that eased her discomfort.

"Oooh," she breathed as he gently put down her second foot. "That was way better than chocolate, and almost certainly better than..." she suddenly realised what she was about to say, and blushed pink.

Harm chuckled gently, enjoying watching her confusion, "Better than?" he prompted her.

"H'mm" she murmured, ignoring the challenge he'd just thrown out, "Maybe you should start a new career as a masseur..."

"Yeah... I could..." he pretended to consider his options, "I could open a little shop. Right on the outskirts of Pimmit Hills, handy for Langley, and Arlington, and McLean..."

"Huh, over my dead body!" she snorted.

"Well, that could be arranged," he told her with a wink.

"Careful what you say, Mr Rabb. Remember I _am_ a lawyer, and anything you say may be taken down, twisted around and used in evidence against you!"

Harm lay back against the squabs, Catherine's feet still resting on his thighs and extended his right hand to Catherine, who laid her own left hand in his, and they both smiled at each other, perfectly happy in their nonsense.

After a while, Catherine murmured, "Harm?"

"H'mm?"

"Do we have to go house hunting on Saturday?"

"Do you have any particular reason why we shouldn't?"

"Yes... I thought we might be able to spend the whole day with you just rubbing my feet!"

"That's just being greedy!" he admonished her, "and decadent!"

"Oh, I know," she sighed dreamily, "but it would be fantastic!"

"House hunting first, my girl, and then a foot rub, if you're very good!"

And what if I'm very bad? Catherine wondered, what would that get me? And although the urge to ask the question out loud was compelling she managed to keep the lid on that one for the time being. Even if she was ready to handle the consequences of that question, and she wasn't entirely sure that she was ready; she was damn' sure that Harm wasn't. Not yet, but maybe someday, in the not too distant future.

"Oh, well if that's the best offer I'm going to get," she grumbled, with a mock-pout, and swinging her feet down onto the floor before fiddling them into her moccasins, "I'm going home!"

Harm stood and gave her his hands as she hauled herself out of the couch's embrace, and as she stood, she rose on tip toe and gently brushed her lips against his cheek. "Thank you Harm. Thank you for dinner, for the foot rub, for the tea, for everything." And again she kissed him gently on the cheek.

As Harm helped her on with her coat, carefully lifting her hair away from the collar, she reminded him, "Meet me at Linsey's bar on Tyson's Corner Road at five. We're due to visit mom, and then it's back to my place, and it's my turn to cook!"

"Catherine, you'll have been at work all day, you don't have to do that. Why don't we visit your mom as planned - and I'm looking forward to that - but we can just order in, it won't hurt us if we do that once or twice a week!"

She looked at him doubtfully. "OK, just think about, please. If it really means that much to you, why don't you save your energy, and you can cook either Saturday or Sunday?" he urged her.

"OK, I'll think about it," she promised.

"Good. Now I'll walk you down to your car," he told her with a smile.


	5. Chapter 5

**5**

Harm checked his appearance in the mirror, the mid tan suit - one of his Italian jobs, he smiled at his nickname for it - with the white shirt and dark tie, shoes polished, not to a navy spit shine, that would have been ostentatious, but sufficiently well for the day. A garment bag hung over the arm of the couch, a piece of furniture that had tortured his back on more than one occasion, but now an item that since Catherine had taken to sitting on it with him, was rapidly becoming his favourite seat. His go-bag, with jeans, T-Shirt and sneakers was on the floor by the apartment door. He checked his watch, it was time; he couldn't procrastinate any longer. Picking up both bags, he took the elevator downstairs, and stowing the bags in his Lexus, climbed into the driver's seat and with a pang took the well-remembered route to Falls Church.

Arriving at the marine security details CP caused a further stab of embarrassment as he painstakingly filled in the log and received his Visitor's badge. Pinning that little piece of plastic to his lapel brought for some reason he couldn't quite identify, a sensation of shame. Taking the elevator, he rose to the Ops level and made his way around the edge of the bull-pen heading towards Court Room 3 and almost ran straight into Jennifer Coates.

Jen's face split in a huge smile, "Good morning, sir! It's good to see you again!"

Harm smiled back, he liked the lively young petty officer, and was happy to see her apparently so settled in at Falls Church. "Well, good morning Jennifer, it's good to see you too!"

Jennifer, unsure of the reason for the Commander's presence said tentatively, "The Admiral's at his desk, sir. I'll let him know you're here."

The smile left Harm's face as he started to turn away from Jen, "That won't be necessary, Jennifer."

"Sir, I believe it is necessary. You two need to talk!"

"I have nothing to say to the Admiral," Harm told her as he finished his turn to find himself almost face to face with the admiral who was passing on his way between his office and the galley.

Jen could feel, she could almost see the tension between the two men as their eyes met briefly and they exchanged nods that barely acknowledged the other's existence, and as they passed out of her line of sight, her shoulders drooped with disappointment and a frustrated, whispered, "Dammit!" found its way through her lips.

Harm made his way along the hallway to courtroom 3 where he had his named checked off on the witness list by the Marine Corps MP, and took a chair while he waited to be called to the stand. He was not kept waiting long, it seemed that he was the only witness being called today. The MP opened the door for him and he walked down the aisle between the twin banks of sets until he was met by the familiar figure of the court bailiff who administered to Harm the oath that he had heard so many thousands of times that he could have repeated it in his sleep.

Harm took his place on the witness stand and unbuttoned his jacket as Mac stood to begin her questions, "Mr Rabb," her address, accurate though it was caused Harm a further pang, "What is your assessment of Commander's Imes' legal abilities?"

"Outstanding," Harm was determined to give the simplest, least ambiguous answers he could.

"And of her character?" Mac pursued.

"Impeccable."

"Do you consider her a friend?"

Harm thought for a couple of seconds. He didn't dislike Carolyn Imes, but neither had he ever felt the need to seek her company on either a professional or personal basis, "I consider her to be a respected colleague," he answered the question.

Mac nodded non-committally, "Thank you, Mr Rabb. No further questions." She finished her examination and took her seat.

Judge Morris looked across at the prosecution table, "Commander Turner?" he prompted.

"Mr Rabb," Sturgis came to his feet and in a no-nonsense voice began his cross-examination, "did you take an oath when you were certified to try Courts-Martial, under Article 27b?"

"I did," Harm affirmed, and he felt a chill, he thought he had identified Sturgis' strategy and if he was correct, then there was only one possible outcome to this line of questioning.

"What was that oath?" Sturgis asked.

This was another oath that Harm knew by heart, "To faithfully perform the duties of counsel in any court-martial for which I was detailed, so help me God."

"So, Commander Imes lied to her God, as well." Harm could already detect an undercurrent of triumph in his friend's voice. And he didn't like it. Sure, Turner had the responsibility to do his best to convict the accused, and although his face was customarily mask-like and difficult to read, he seemed to be taking a little too much pleasure in doing his duty.

"Well I'm not really qualified to answer that question, Commander, and neither are you qualified to ask it." Harm tried not to let disapproval into his voice.

Turner seemed however to pick up on Harm's irritation and merely gave a half-smile before continuing, "Did you take that oath seriously?"

"I did."

"And did Commander Imes take a similar oath?"

"I presume so." Harm replied.

"Do you believe that violation of such an oath is Conduct Unbecoming?"

Harm winced inwardly. This was the killer question, desperately he tried a deflection, "Well that's for Judge Morris to determine, isn't it?"

"Answer the question, please!" Sturgis rapped back at him.

Harm drew a breath, there was only one possible answer he could give, and that answer would blow Carolyn Imes' defence clean out of the water, he looked at Mac whose shoulders dropped as she recognised the inevitability of his response, and at Carolyn who tightened her lips and appeared to turn a little paler, and he looked at Sturgis, trying to convey his feelings of the moment. But the moment could not be delayed, "Yes," he replied.

"So," Sturgis Turner continued in a voice full of satisfaction at having gained the answer he wanted, "so all of her fitness reports were based on a lie, a fraud, they count for nothing?"

Bud Roberts, sitting second chair for the defence was instantly on his feet, "Objection! Argumentative!" he exclaimed.

Turner didn't wait for Judge Morris' ruling, as he turned back to his seat, "Withdrawn. No further questions."

Dismissed from the witness stand, Harm had no wish to hear Carolyn Imes' fate decreed. He had been called as a witness for the defence, but Turner's questions had forced answers from him that had destroyed Carolyn's future, at least as far as the navy was concerned. He could only hope that her fourteen years of exemplary service and the outstanding fitness reports she had received would go some way in mitigating her sentence.

Crossing the bull-pen again on his way back to the elevator he again locked eyes with the admiral, this time as he was speaking with Jennifer Coates in the Yeoman's cubby-hole that led to the JAG's office. Again Jen caught the tension between the two men, and drew a deep breath, knowing that this would be the last time she could get away with interfering in whatever had gone wrong, that is if she could get away with this time. Letting her breath out, she looked pleadingly at the admiral and said urgently, "Admiral, talk to him!"

The admiral, glared at her. The same glare that had made four-ring captains blench, "Petty Officer, you're not going to make me sorry I made you my Yeoman, are you?"

Jen gulped, "I can't promise you that, sir." Her knees were shaking, and she could feel herself trembling, and oh, damn! she knew, she just knew what was going to happen next.

Chegwidden growled, almost snarled, at her, "Petty Officer, you are flirting with in... "

Damn! It was happening, Jen couldn't stop herself, try as she might. Once her nerves had completely taken over her body there was nothing she could to prevent herself, "Insubordination, sir?"

Chegwidden looked at her, a stunned expression on his face, "Do you think I am incapable of finishing a..."

Jennifer groaned silently, she was going to do it again, "Sentence? Sorry, sir. Bad habit." She tried to apologise, and she could feel the tears building up behind her eyes.

Chegwidden ignored her attempt at an apology and ground on, "I do not want..." and he paused almost as if giving Jen the chance to hang herself. Fortunately she had now regained a fraction of control, as the admiral continued, "to hear what you say."

" Yes, sir."

"Not one word." The Admiral turned away from his Yeoman, and crossed his arms on his chest, adopting a posture that even Jen recognised as signalling a closed mind.

"No, sir,"

The admiral's voice growled on remorselessly, "I am not interested in you taking the Commander's side, or if you think I should take him back. I am not interested if... if you think I'm being unreasonable, or... or pig-headed, or... or unfair!

Jen replied, "No, sir. There's no need for that. Because you already know it. Sorry, sir!"

Chegwidden spun back to face her, his hands dropping to his sides and his face working in anger. Admiral and Yeoman stared at each other in disbelief. The one not believing what he had heard, the other not believing the words that had come out her own mouth. They stood facing each other for long seconds, rising fury in one matched by rising fear in the other.

After what seemed a lifetime to Jen, the admiral turned away from her and reaching through his open office doorway, he retrieved his coat and cover from the rack and said still in a growl, "You know, Petty Officer, people don't like to be 'handled'."

"Yes, sir." Jen quavered.

"So if you do it, you damned sure better be right." Chegwidden drew a deep breath and then exhaled noisily, but when he finished his sentence it was in an almost inaudible mutter, "As you were this time."

The irate flag-officer strode out across the bull-pen almost cannoning into Mac, who had left the courtroom just in time to overhear the close of the argument between Jen and the admiral, and like the two principals she too could hardly believe what she had heard. This was exactly the sort of thing against which she had cautioned Jen just the other day, dammit! Entering Jen's cubby-hole, she found the younger woman, slumped back with her butt against her desk-edge and her head bowed, her hands covering her face.

Jen appeared to be trembling violently, and Mac asked her in a voice full of concern, "Jen are you alright?"

Jen dropped her hands to reveal an ashen face and eyes flooded with unshed tears, "No, ma'am, she gulped, "I... I think... I feel like I'm going to burst into tears, any second... or I'm going to hurl." She turned even whiter and whispered, "I think... I'd better cut along to the head, ma'am."

"I'll walk with you," Mac comforted the younger woman.

x-x-x-x-x

Rear Admiral A J Chegwidden had stormed out the JAG Headquarters, barely acknowledging the salutes of the marine sentries, and climbed into the driver's seat of his black Ford Expedition, his peel out of the parking lot, leaving a trail of burned rubber behind him was more than sufficient to cause raised eyebrows on the faces of those who witnessed his abrupt departure. Dammit! He didn't want Rabb back, but it looked like he needed him! Since his departure six months ago, the whole of JAG Ops had been on a slippery slope. Despite counselling and minor punishments, the work rate had dropped, deadlines were missed, cases weren't been prosecuted or defended to the standards he expected, and his senior staff weren't performing up to their capabilities. Look at Imes! For fourteen years she'd had everybody fooled. She'd done good work, but once her deceit was uncovered, he'd had no choice but to suspend and then charge her. Turner, always a stickler for the rules had suddenly become a martinet, seeming to lose all human compassion in a drive to more strictly adhere to the letter of the law. And Colonel MacKenzie, despite her protests to the contrary was obviously still suffering from the effects of whatever she'd gone through down in South America, witness that extraordinary display of temper in his office yesterday! No, much as he disliked the idea, he needed a lawyer of Rabb's proven ability and an officer with his leadership skills to weld the crowd of individuals that worked at JAG back into a cohesive unit.

Still, now the young hothead had had six months in the wilderness, he should welcome the chance to get back into uniform and finish his twenty, and perhaps he had also learned a much needed lesson in humility! But, it was still going to be a ticklish job, and turning up wherever in Dress Blues was not going to make this unofficial approach to official business very unofficial.

That decision made he turned towards his home in McLean, where he quickly changed into casual civilian cloths and stopped. He had no idea where to find Rabb, but if he didn't there was still one member of his staff who should know! Picking up his phone, he speed-dialled a certain number and waited, four rings later a voice on the other end of the 'phone answered, "Lieutenant Roberts, how may I help you?"

"Roberts, this A J Chegwidden. Where can I find Rabb at this time of day?"

"Uh, if he's not home sir, then he should be at Grace Aviation at Charlottesville-Albemarle Airfield, sir. That's..."

"Thank you Roberts, I know where Charlottesville is!"

It was almost an hour and a half later when Chegwidden drew up outside the hanger marked as Grace Aviation's. He climbed out of the driver's seat and wandered, unquestioned, into the hangar where a couple of overall-clad mechanics were doing whatever mechanics did to light airplanes, and where Rabb, clad in black T-shirt and jeans listening with every evidence of enjoyment, to a story being told to him by a young teenage girl, who alternated her sentences with gulps from a soda-can, as Chegwidden drew near enough to hear, she was saying excitedly, "So they opened the doors at both ends of the hanger, and Uncle Vic flew right through!"

Rabb chuckled before asking "Upside down?"

"Damn straight!" the copper-haired girl declared, her eyes shining at the memory of the event she had witnessed.

"Your uncle was a pretty crazy guy!" Rabb told her, shaking his head slightly, still not quite sure whether or not to believe her almost incredible story.

"Hell, you oughta know!" Chegwidden's voice coming so unexpectedly from behind him, effectively wiped the grin from Rabbs face. Half turning towards his former Commanding Officer, he waited until Chegwidden spoke again, "How are you, Commander?"

Harm turned back towards Mattie, the title 'commander' had set off all sorts of alarm bells for the young girl. Straightening up, she placed the soda-can on the work bench behind her and her hands hanging by her side she awaited developments.

When Harm spoke, she thought she detected just a slight note of mockery in his voice, "Well, A J I'm fine, and it's not 'Commander' any more, is it?"

Chegwidden sucked his teeth and pretended an interest in the airplane in front of him. "Force of habit," he admitted gruffly. Even through her sudden concern Mattie noted that neither man was facing the other, nor were they were talking except by throwing their comments backwards over their shoulders.

"How about a drink?" Chegwidden offered.

Rabb considered for a moment or two, as invitations went, he thought, A J's wasn't very inviting, "You buying?" he asked

Chegwidden paused in his turn for a moment before proposing "Dutch treat?"

More silent moments passed as Harm and Mattie exchanged a long look, Mattie's face was almost unreadable as she re-erected her walls against what she was sure was going to be yet another person walking right on out of her life, just when she was beginning to trust him enough to let him get close to her. Harm seemed to see, or perhaps feel her doubts, and pulling a wry grin, that somehow conveyed reassurance, he turned towards Chegwidden and said "fine."

Chegwidden took an openly disparaging look around the hangar and with disapproval of what he saw writ large on his face looked at Rabb and as he strolled towards the hangar entrance demanded, "What exactly do you do around here?"

"Crop dusting," Harm replied, with just a touch of defiance.

"H'mm, enjoy it?" challenged Chegwidden.

"It pays three hundred a day," Mattie contributed, stepping forward and ironically, Harm noted, assuming the same braced arm position against a work bench that the admiral used so successfully to intimidate his subordinates.

Chegwidden ignored the youngster and as the two men continued their slow walk towards the entrance, with Mattie trailing a pace or to in their rear, he asked Harm, "Well, don't you think this is a waste of your talents?"

Harm pulled a face of disagreement, "No. I work my own hours, I don't have to wear a suit and tie, and I like my boss."

Mattie had been seriously annoyed by Chegwidden ignoring her and interrupted their conversation, "Harm, is this bald guy the jerk who fired you?" she stared contemptuously at the older of the two men.

Chegwidden, directly challenged could no longer ignore the teenager, and stopped to face her, "I... uh... didn't really fire him... I just... I... just didn't ask him back." He tried to simplify what was after all a horrendously complicated situation.

"Yeah?" Mattie's tone was as loaded with cynical scepticism as only a fourteen-year-old girl's tone could be, "Well 'round here, we call that 'fired'."

Exasperated by Mattie's tone as well as by her question, Chegwidden glared at her, "And you are...?"

Unfazed by his expression, Mattie thrust out her hand, "I'm Mattie Grace, Harm's new boss," she explained.

Somehow Chegwidden found himself taking Mattie's hand in his own as he acknowledged her introduction, but turned a frankly doubtful face towards Harm, "She's kidding - right?"

"Nope," Harm shook his head enjoying the perplexed look on Chegwidden's face, "Mattie does the paperwork and runs the day to day operations for Grace Aviation."

"So, now you're working for a little girl, humph!" Chegwidden's disgust was all too apparent as he headed for his Expedition. Harm and Mattie exchanged a loaded look until Harm made to follow Chegwidden to give him directions, when he was topped by Mattie's voice. "I'll see you on Monday, right?"

Harm stopped and looked at her. He could see the fear on her face and in her eyes, which were bright with excess moisture. He smiled at her reassuringly once more and said, "Bright and early".

"You've got the Barrow farm," she told him earnestly, desperately trying to hold back her fears and tears until she was alone. There's a nasty cross-wind and high tension wires at the west end..."

Harm grinned at her again and winked encouragingly as he waved at her, "See you, boss!"

Harm didn't particularly want a drink with Chegwidden, but he wanted to know how the man he'd served under and respected for so long could suddenly have performed a complete about-face and changed so drastically. And he wanted to know why the Admiral hadn't let him go after Mac; he wanted, no, he needed an explanation.

It took only a couple of minutes to reach the little bar on the side of the road. Parking their cars, and carefully not speaking to each other, they entered the bar, and while the admiral headed for the bar, Harm staked a claim on the temporary possession of a table by the simple expedient of dropping his ball-cap on it, and then moving towards the dartboard while waiting for Chegwidden to be served. By the time Chegwidden arrived with the two beers, Harm had the last of a flight of three darts in his hand, and pretended to be absorbed in the game.

"Thought it was time we had a talk," AJ said as he put the two bottles on the table.

"Thought we'd done our talking," Harm responded, launching the last dart at the board.

"So did I, turns out there's more to say."

"Well, I can't imagine what that would be," Harm said, bitterly, as he walked from the ocke to the board, not a bad score he told himself, two triple twenties and a single that was only just outside the triples bed, for a score of one hundred and forty.

Chegwidden watched Harms performance with exasperation, "God, you're damned annoying,"

Harm turned away from the dartboard to look at Chegwidden, "Is that what you drove a hundred miles to tell me?"

"That's part of it," Chegwidden made the effort to keep his voice neutral.

"Well I'm also, and here I am paraphrasing," Harm said in a voice dripping with sarcasm, "not a team player and controlled by my emotions."

Chegwidden grunted, he'd known that that conversation was going to come up. But dammit, he'd been right then and he was right, now.

"All that's true."

Chegwidden's uncompromising statement, or the flat tone in which it was delivered, ignited an anger in Harm. An anger that he thought he had mastered months ago, and although he was shocked to find it still there within him, the glow gave him a fierce satisfaction. Abandoning the dartboard he sat opposite Chegwidden and for the first time that afternoon confronted him face to face...

"Look, why are you here, Admiral? What'd you come looking for absolution? Did you come to gloat?" Harm asked, no longer caring what his tone was, or what it might be revealing, "Or you just want to ride in an airplane?"

Chegwidden's had had enough for the day with being spoken to like that, and he felt his own temper slipping, "You're bordering on insubordination, Rabb."

"I'm a civilian now, A J. I'm not in your Navy." Again it was something he thought he'd gotten over, but he hadn't; it too had been coiled, lying in wait, but unlike his anger, this hurt he'd thought gone these many months left him with a chill and a bitterness that surprised him with its intensity.

Chegwidden stood, frustrated by the seeming impossibility of getting through the younger man. Cutting to the chase, he braced his arms on the chair-back, "All right, here it is. As you know, the Imes debacle has forced us to review over two hundred cases, in many of which you were involved. And you did some...damn fine lawyering." He shook his head, how the hell had things between them gotten this bad? "Now you're a crop duster."

"I'm good at that, too," Harm replied in a flat voice, throwing Chegwidden a curve ball in a bid to unsettle the older man. Chegwidden knew what Harm was about, and he wasn't prepared to let him see that his ploy had rocked his former CO.

"I might consider asking SecNav to reinstate your commission and take you back at JAG, under the right circumstances," he suggested, working to get the conversation going back in a direction he wanted.

Harm crossed his arms over his chest, "I'm listening."

"Harm, it's time to stop being Peter Pan, the boy who likes to fly and never grew up," AJ stated bluntly. "You're not going to have the life that you want until you learn to take responsibility for your actions. Not at work, not with women, not in any facet of your life."

Harm stared at him for a moment, amazed at the other man's nerve. What gave him the right to make judgments about his life, especially his relationships?

"You know what, A J? You don't have any idea what you're talking about," he replied in a dangerously low voice, "You think I haven't taken responsibility for my relationships? You think my relationships are some kind of childish whim, and I'll just fly away as soon as I get bored, or it gets too hard?" he asked, his voice and his anger steadily rising. "Well, I have news for you. It's been pretty damn hard the last six months. It's been pretty hard for the last eight years. But I'm still here. So don't tell me I haven't taken responsibility, and don't presume that you know what kind of life I want

"And what about the rest? What about your career?" Chegwidden countered, "You gonna spend the rest of your life dusting crops for a mouthy teenager? Is _that_ what you want?"

"No, that's not what I want," Harm retorted his voice shaking with anger. "You want me to admit that? Fine, I admit it. What I wanted was to be at JAG, to be in the Navy, to serve my country."

"Really?" Chegwidden responded icily, and abandoning all pretence of keeping his temper as the conversation reached what he felt was its climax. "You could have fooled me."

"Damn it, Admiral!" Harm yelled standing so abruptly that his chair skittered across the wooden floor, as his actions drew stares from the bar's other customers. "What the hell do you want from me?"

"I want you to look at your life!" Chegwidden snapped, walking around the table and intruding into Harm's personal space. "I want you to accept responsibility for your actions! I want you to realize that this life that you have is the life _you_ created. All of it, Harm. Not just the good, but the bad, too." He stepped back, and breathing hard made an effort to control his anger. When he had taken a few deep breaths, he continued at a lower volume, "You blame me for the loss of your career. You were the one who chose to resign, but you still think it's my fault that you're out here today. Why is that?"

"Because you were the one who forced me to resign in the first place," Harm replied, his voice returned to its menacing low pitch, "You could have granted me leave. You could have given me a chance..."

"A chance?" AJ interrupted Harm in open disbelief, "Exactly how many more chances do you want me to give you? How many COs would have let you off as easily as I did when you fired a weapon in open court? How many COs do you think would have given you leave to go to Russia to find your father, much less send your partner with you to watch your six? How many COs would have danced to your tune when you two-stepped around your designators? How many COs would have ignored the resignation you handed in to go look for Sergei? How many COs would have turned a blind eye when you disobeyed direct orders so you could stay with Bud? You don't have any idea how many chances I gave you. How many things I ignored or swept under the rug so that you wouldn't lose your career; so that the Navy wouldn't lose a fine officer. And how did you repay me for that? By lying, by keeping secrets, by making yourself look so damn guilty and creating such a mess that I had to order everyone else to stay away just to keep from making it worse."

He glared at Harm, "What makes you think you deserved any more chances?"

For a long moment, Harm didn't say anything, and then his own voice back at low pitch he replied, "Firstly, I'll accept that in the Singer case, I kept secrets that perhaps in retrospect I shouldn't have; but Loren's attempted murder was due in some measure to her desire to protect those secrets. I felt that I could do no less than respect her wish for privacy! And yes, maybe I should have been more open about my suspicions regarding Sergei's possible involvement, but if it had been your brother, would you have mentioned his name unless you were absolutely certain? No, don't bother, your face tells me the truth. Ah, yes the truth. Secretive I may have been A J, but I did not lie. Not once during that investigation did I lie! As for why I should maybe have been cut a little more slack? I don't know. Oh, wait, maybe because I was willing and happy to help a distraught father rescue his only daughter from a bunch of kidnappers with possible ties to Middle eastern extremists, or maybe it was because I had been encouraged not to be a team player, to be the Lone Ranger, by twice being sent off round the world to retrieve captured aircraft and organise jail breaks for their pilots, no, wait again, make that two aircraft and three jail breaks. Or maybe being sent on a so-called diplomatic mission into a country where for all everyone here knew that I was wanted as a fugitive. Tell me A J, when I flew into China with Tom Boone, if I had been arrested as a wanted criminal by the Chinese, would you, would anyone here have lifted a finger to help me? Or would you have shrugged your shoulders and said it was just the price I had to pay for screwing up?"

Chegwidden was thrown on the defensive by Harm's unexpected counter attack. He expected to come here, give Rabb a chewing out and then have the younger man accept his job offer with gratitude, not to have Rabb turn on him with as much bitterness as he had. "Of course we would have got you out, Harm! You know that!"

"No, A J. I don't know that. Looking back over the last year, you turned your back on your SEAL code three times that I know of - you remember that code 'never leave a man behind'? Come on A J, you must remember that, after all it wasn't all that long ago when I defended a SEAL for standing by that code. You say that you went out on a limb for me? Like hell you did. When NCIS came after me, you pushed me out on that limb and then you handed them a saw! You just told me; you just admitted to me, that it was by your orders that I wasn't permitted contact with my friends for the entire month I was in the brig. Why was that, Admiral, did you believe I was guilty? You must have done, otherwise how can you account for your decisions. Where was the attorney of my choice? Oh, yes, that's right I wasn't allowed one was I? I wasn't allowed my right to choose my defence council. Instead I was allocated an anally retentive incompetent with OCD who couldn't even start her day unless she had exactly the right number of properly sharpened pencils in her briefcase. How did she ever win a case? Let alone nine! Were they all slam dunks? Because as far as I could tell her legal skills were zero, and her strategy for my defence was to stand up and say 'my client says he's not guilty, the defence rests'.

I sat in that court and knew that innocent or not, that I was going to be found guilty. And you know something, I had got to the stage where when they found me guilty, I was going to ask for the death penalty. Surprised are you? Well think it through, how long do you think I would have survived in Leavenworth? At least with the death penalty, I would have known when and how it was coming, and I might even have got a decent meal out of it, instead of having to stay awake every second of every hour of the day and night, just waiting for Clark Palmer or someone like him to decide it was time I died."

"And tell me something else A J, with NCIS so fixated on me, that they never even considered an alternative suspect, where was the parallel independent JAGMAN investigation, or even a shared investigation with NCIS? Were you really so convinced I was guilty, that you couldn't even be bothered to make the effort to see if there was at least one other viable suspect? I hear Gibbs claims credit for solving the case. But at the time the case was solved, he was out of the country playing, oh, what was it called, oh, yes. Lone Ranger, and it was a junior agent and their forensics genius who finally figured out that I wasn't guilty, and even then you were reluctant to dismiss the charges until Loren recovered enught o identify Lindsey!"

"But even if I didn't deserve another chance, Mac did. How could you let her die just because I'd screwed up? How could you leave her behind on a Mission, a CIA mission, not a JAGMAN investigation, that she agreed to go on because you endorsed it. A mission that was so badly planned, that it went belly up almost as soon as it landed in country. Did Webb lie to you, or did you even bother to find out what his plan B was? Webb's back up plan was exactly what you took exception to. His back-up plan was to have me charging in like the cavalry and save the day. Did he tell you that? Did you tell Mac that?"

This was the crux of the matter, Chegwidden thought, no matter how screwed Harm and Mac's relationship was at the moment, it was Mac's danger that had drawn Harm into all this, "Harm, do you really think that I didn't care if she lived or died?"

"I don't know," Harm answered thoughtfully, "But thinking about it, no, I don't think you cared. Actions speak louder than words. You had abandoned to me to face death in Leavenworth, why would I think you wouldn't abandon Mac to be killed in Paraguay?" He saw the hurt in the admiral's eyes, but he didn't care "A year ago, I wouldn't have believed it, but now..." he shrugged. Now came the question that he wasn't sure he wanted to ask, because he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer, but he had pressed too hard not ask now, "So, why A J? Why wouldn't you let me go? What possible reason could you have for not wanting me to save her?"

The Admiral dropped his eyes and scrubbed his hands over his scalp, "You want the truth?" he asked when he could no longer delay, Harm nodded. Chegwidden sighed "I thought you were burned out Harm; that the Singer case had messed with your head. You'd lost control of your emotions, and that got you arrested, and I couldn't let you go the way you were because I was afraid it was going to get you killed."

Harm considered what Chegwidden had said, the admiral had made a fair point or two, but he still hadn't supplied a satisfactory answer, "So to save me you, you were willing to sacrifice Mac?"

"No, dammit! I wanted you to stop and think and make a proper plan. I was afraid that if you went charging in there with all guns blazing, you'd have both been killed."

Harm hissed at him, "If I had been given the intel I needed when I first asked, instead of being given the run round by Kershaw and by you, then I wouldn't have wasted days trying to garner what little scraps I could, I would have had time to plan. Did you ever consider that your damn spook pals and their pathetic little 'need to know' nearly got both of us, and the Gunny killed. And Webb. Did Mac ever tell you just how close she was to dying the day I found them. When I found her, she was shackled to a table, with half her clothes ripped off, and some stinking pervert was seconds away from amusing himself with her by the application of electricity and red hot steel wool. Seconds, A J, and if I'd been told where they were just twenty four hours earlier than I was, then not only might I have saved Mac, and Gunny and Webb, but we might even have been able to write finis to Sadiq. Now God or Allah knows where he is!

Harm laughed bitterly, "And do you know what the funniest aspect of the whole affair is? When I had cut Mac free from her shackles and killed at least half a dozen of Sadiq's men, she told me that she hadn't needed to be rescued by me, that Gunny would have got them out, and then she called me an idiot when I told her I'd resigned, because my career was all that I'd had, and then she proved herself right. Talk about self-fulfilling prophecies! Within minutes of me cutting her free, she was all over Webb, hell she kissed him right in front of me, while I still had her captors' wet blood on my hands. But, I'd do it all again. Sure I regret some things, but if Mac was in trouble in Paraguay or some other hell-hole and the only way I could get to her was by resigning, I'd do it again without a moment's hesitation. Even if I knew that at the end of it all she would turn round, just the way she did in Ciudad del Este and tell me that despite our eight-years of whatever it was we had, there was 'never' going to be an 'us'! But do you know what, after all that, when the Imes case imploded, the first thing Mac did was to come to me and ask for my help. I wouldn't do it admiral. I can only be taken advantage of so many times. And now you've come to me, the generous A J, offering me my old job, as if you were doing me a great favour. But you're not, A J, you're not. You're not here because you want me back. You're here because you need me back, because the officer you chose to replace me has screwed the pooch big time and is facing seven years' confinement. You need me back to save your six, because JAG is falling apart around your ears. You need me back because instead of easing the load, Carolyn Imes has made life more difficult for everyone. They're all overworked, and now you want me back to pick up the slack and be your whipping boy again. I won't do it admiral. And do you l know why I won't do it? I won't ever serve under you again, because I no longer trust you and I no longer respect you. And here's a puzzle, see if you can solve it, because I can't. Why after the way you left her to be killed, is Mac still willing to serve under you?"

"Christ, Rabb," Chegwidden was shaken by the vitriol that had spilled out during Harm's diatribe, "Just when did you become so cynical?"

"Oh, let me see… oh, yes, that would have been somewhere between 'You're under arrest for the attempted murder of Loren Singer' and 'go wrestle alligators!'"

"Yeah, Chegwidden grinned mirthlessly, "I thought that might come up at some stage."

"Yeah, where did that come from A J? You were mad at me, fine. I'd hoped you wouldn't process my resignation, but you did, and that was a chance I'd taken, again fine. But why did you have to humiliate me like that in front of Mac? Why did you feel the need to trivialize and mock everything that I had achieved in all my years of service, why A J?"

Chegwidden shrugged, "I'm not sure. I lost my temper; I know that's not an excuse, but I felt that you had publicly humiliated me. By resigning, you had made it clear that you put limits on my authority, that there were orders that I was prepared to give, but that you were not prepared to obey!"

Harm nodded, "So, petty revenge." He took a pull of his beer, and then said in a conversational tone. "When you dismissed me the day I went to Paraguay, you told me to do what I do, and as I was leaving your office, you stopped me and you asked me that now that I had resigned to go and get her, what would I do in order to keep her. I didn't have an answer for you then, but I do now. I would go and get her, and if she wanted it, I would give her her freedom. If she was really mine, then she would come back to me. If she didn't come back, then she was never mine in the first place."

Harm looked at his now-empty bottle and placed it on the table, picking up his ball-cap, he shoved it into his hip pocket, and without a word, or a backwards look he walked out through the bar room door, ignoring the cry of "Rabb!" that followed him

x-x-x-x-x-

It had taken the best part of the drive to Pimmit Hills before Harm had stopped shaking, but the effort needed to accompany Catherine to visit her mother had been sufficient for him to bottle up his hurt and his anger and thrust them back deep into his soul.

He and Catherine had spent an hour with her mother, before returning to Harm's apartment for dinner and one of Catherine's chick-flicks in the VCR. Harm reached out and thumbed the 'pause' button on the remote control.

"You know we planned to spend tomorrow house hunting?"

"Yes… why?"

"Well, house hunting is tough, right?"

"So I've been told, she agreed, with a little smile, wondering just where he was taking this conversation, she was certain that something was bothering him, but she knew that even with their commitment to be open and honest with each other that there were going to be times when he found it difficult.

"So, he said," leaning back against the couch and draping his arm along the back, "I was thinking, that we could maybe pack a basket, and then on Sunday, if the weather holds, we could maybe take a picnic somewhere?"

"Where did you have in mind? Virginia Beach? Because I don't think I'm up for wearing my swim-suit on a crowded beach!" she protested, half laughing at the thought. "God, no, one look at me and they'd be calling the SPCA to come and re-float a stranded whale!"

The image she conjured up was comical enough to make him grin, but he shook his head and said, "No, appealing as that might be, I was thinking of heading in the opposite direction. Somewhere disgustingly rural."

"And where would that be ?" she asked, settling back against the squabs.

"Umm… Charlottesville," he admitted.

She turned her head towards him in that bird-like manner she had obviously acquired from her mother, and said, "Alright, what's the attraction with Charlottesville? After all, you've been working there every day this week!"

He smiled, "That's because the other love of my life is there. Sarah."

Catherine refused to rise to the bait. She relaxed into the couch's depths and rested her head on Harm's bicep. "And Sarah would be?" she asked lightly.

Harm grinned appreciatively, she had definitely out-played him in this round, "Sarah is my airplane, an antique nineteen-thirties bi-plane trainer."

"So, I get to sit around, guarding the supplies from the ants, while you zoom off into the wide blue yonder, is that the plan?" she asked him.

Harm looked at her, the laughter lines at the corner of her eyes were fully deployed, and there was no suggestion of tension in her body language.

"Would that be OK by you?" he queried anxiously, "I mean if you hate the idea…"

"I hate the idea of not being able to fully share the day with you, but…" she gently rubbed her tummy.

"So, shall we give it a try?"

His words resonated in her memory, and she smiled up at him as she edged a little nearer and leaned her head against his upper arm, her movement goaded his already picking conscience.

"Umm… I do need to tell you something," he said, uneasily.

Catherine turned her head to give him a questioning look, as he dropped his eyes and started turning the remote control over and over in his free hand. Catherine waited for a few seconds, and then hitching even closer to him, she leaned forwards and took the remote away from him, pressing the 'stand-by' button as she did. She let the screen fade to black before she spoke, "Go on, then," she prompted him, "I thought there was something…"

"Yeah, something… The Admiral came out to the airfield today."

"And?"

"And he offered to set the wheels in motion to have my resignation rescinded and have me returned to active duty back at JAG."

"And you accepted? This is what all the deflection about picnics is about? "

"Uh… no, not entirely, the thing about the picnic is real enough, but I… uh… turned him down."

"Oh. Well you had your reasons. But what are you going to do now? I thought you wanted to be back in the navy."

"As for wanting to be back in the navy, yeah I did, I still do, but when he offered me my old job back, I realised that I couldn't serve under him again. I'd always be looking over my shoulder, hoping that the back-up he'd promised would actually be there, and that he wouldn't throw me to the lions again if something went wrong. I told him that I no longer trusted him or respected him, so I wouldn't even consider serving under his command."

"Wow, you burnt your boats, there, Harm!" But despite the lightness of her words, there was concern in her face and voice.

Harm smiled briefly and dropped his right hand on to her shoulder where he gave her a gentle squeeze, and where much to his relief she seemed content to let it rest.

"But what are you going to do for a regular income?" She persisted.

"Well, I thought that I'd stay crop dusting until the season ends, and in the meantime start hawking my résumé around the local law firms, see if anyone wants a trial attorney who knows his way around international and maritime law."

"H'mm, Harm, are you sure about this thing we're trying here? I mean, we're talking about buying a house together, while you don't have a regular steady income. Are you sure that you're really up for this?"

"There goes, momma bear," he smiled again to reassure her, "looking out for her family. Catherine, you're in this with me as a partnership, right, fifty/fifty all the way?"

"Yeah…"

"So you plan on contributing fifty percent of the purchase price?"

"Yeah, and the furniture, and whatever."

"Well we're fine, then. My share of the house is not going to be a problem. I have some money put by, and I own the lease on this apartment and I can either sell it, or sub-let it. I haven't made a decision about that yet. But I am more than covered for my half share of house, furniture, furnishings and fixings!"

"Oh." Catherine relaxed and let her head drop onto Harm's shoulder, as his hand slipped down to rest on her upper arm.

"But mention of family, reminds me…"

"Oh?" It suddenly struck Catherine that she wasn't making much of an intelligent contribution to the conversation. "Uh… I mean, how come you've never mentioned you had such fabulous sums hidden under your mattress?"

"Well, I didn't want my family, my mom, to get the idea that you were some kind of gold-digger, and so if I didn't tell you about the crock of gold, then you'd have plausible deniability."

"And what have you told your mom?"

"Oh, I haven't told her anything. I told your mom, so by my reckoning it's your turn to tell my mom!"

"Harm!" she almost squealed in protest, "You cannot expect me, a total stranger, to call your mom and tell her that we're setting up house together, and that you're taking responsibility for another man's child! Or…" and the thought vaguely troubled her, "are you going to tell her that she's your baby?"

"No, I'm not going to lie to her, not about that. I'll simply tell her that my name is on the birth certificate to help protect our baby as she grows up, and that I am more than happy to be a good step dad. My own step dad, Frank, once told me that there's much more to being a parent than just contributing to the gene pool. "And anyway," he said in a livelier manner, "You won't be alone; you've got one valuable ally!"

"Oh?" Catherine queried.

"Yeah, you've got Elizabeth, once mom finds out about her; she'll just wave everything else aside as irrelevant!"

"Oh." Damn! Back with the meaningless monosyllables!


	6. Chapter 6

**6**

Keeping a wary eye on a now-short-tempered Catherine, Harm guided her into the elevator and pressed the button to take it up to the third floor, praying that the unreliable piece of junk wouldn't choose this occasion to break down. Further justification he realised for finding somewhere much more suitable to live. He'd miss the opportunity to run upstairs, it was a useful post-run cool-down in addition to any other benefits it might have, but it was already far too much to expect Catherine to slog up all those stairs, and he suspected that with a baby, a stroller and maybe a sack or two of groceries, it would be totally impossible for her.

True Catherine's apartment was much more user-friendly, although it was far too small for two adults to share, let alone two adults and a new baby. Harriett had told him enough horror stories about trying to cope with the new-born A J and Bud before they'd moved out of their apartment into the house in Alexandria! Admittedly Catherine's apartment was on the second floor, but the building elevator was modern and worked well, and smoothly, a far contrast with the bumpy ride they were now experiencing. Oh, God! The bumps! Harm looked intently at Catherine, but fortunately there didn't seem to be any signs of pain or worry on her face, just, he breathed a sigh of relief, a scowl of bad temper.

Catherine saw him watching her and although she thought she detected concern in his face, she couldn't help herself, "What?" she snapped at him.

"Uh... I was... getting... uh... a little... concerned. About you, and Elizabeth, being in this elevator, with all its bumps and jolts and shudders."

"Oh... Harm..."

"As long as you're OK, I'm happy, so if keeping you OK means you bite my head off once in a while, then I'm OK with that. Look, I know today has been a bear, but just seeing you here in this elevator only reinforces that we needed to do what we did today, and I promise you that tomorrow will be so much easier, like it says, Sunday is a day of rest!"

Catherine smiled gratefully at him, not so much for the promise of a quieter day tomorrow, but because of his obvious concern and his efforts to bring her out of the sullen mood into which the strain and the exertions of the day had driven her. And it was true - she didn't like the sensations the jolting of the elevator were causing in her stomach. Added to which Elizabeth's bouncing around, as she thought of it, was adding pressure to her already uncomfortably full bladder.

The last thought stayed with her as the elevator ground to a halt, and Harm lifted open the old-fashioned freight gates and unlocked the apartment. Brushing past him, she murmured a quick but sincere "Sorry" she headed at what she recognised could only be termed a fast waddle toward his bathroom.

Harm placed the bundle of realtors' papers on his desk, and plugged in the kettle while he prepared two mugs of raspberry and rose hip tea, and then cut over to the couch, where he piled the cushions into a corner while he waited for Catherine to re-emerge from the bathroom.

When she did come back into the living room area, she did so barefoot, having got rid of her shoes and her panty-hose or stockings, or whatever it was she'd worn throughout the day, and just for second he debated whether or not to mention that she was fulfilling one of the oldest male fantasies, but then decided on the balance of things that he rather liked being alive. His smile at his own thoughts caught Catherine's eye, but it was remarkable, she thought, how the alleviation of just one of her symptoms could change the way she felt about life, the universe and everything. So her, "What's so funny, now?" was couched in much less aggressive tones than it could have been, as she lowered herself with a sigh of relief and gratitude down and back against the mound of cushions on the couch.

"Oh, nothing really, just an idle thought, that I'll keep to myself for the moment, if you don't mind!" Harm smiled at her, "Oh, and just hang on a second," he instructed her, as he snagged yet another cushion from one of the arm chairs and placed it on the coffee table, "Here, your ankles look a bit puffy, put your feet up and relax, I'll grab the tea."

They sat together sipping their tea and Harm listened while Catherine told him quite calmly and in great detail what exactly had been wrong with the day, and his whole idea of how to spend their Saturday. Eventually, she ran out of steam and grinned awkwardly up at him, "You're not really listening to me, are you?"

"Yes, dear," he said obediently.

"Like hell you are," she scolded him cheerfully.

"Well, I did zone out just a little bit, after about the forty minute mark," he confessed with such a false air of guilt that Catherine was compelled to laugh.

"I have _not_ been going anywhere near forty minutes!" she protested

"No, of course not," he replied soothingly, and then added in a stage whisper intended for her to hear, "It just felt like it!"

Catherine giggled again, "Is this how you seduce all your girlfriends?"she asked, "You just laugh them off their feet and into bed?"

Harm's voice lost its teasing note. "Is that what you think I'm doing, Catherine, trying to seduce you?"

"No... not at the moment," she said thoughtfully, her pale blue eyes searching his deeper blue ones, "but the subject is going to come up at some time, Harm. What I want to know, before we get too deeply into this playing house, is where is it going to lead us?"

"Well, for a start, Catherine, I don't see it as just playing house. As far as I'm concerned I have made a commitment to you and to Elizabeth," he gently placed his finger tips on her stomach as he spoke, "that I intend to keep for at least the next eighteen years. And yes, at some time in the future, it would be good to have a little baby brother or sister for Elizabeth, but I'm in no rush, and I can wait for as long as it takes for you to decide whether you want to take us to that stage."

"So, you do want to have children or a child with me?"

"Yes, I do at some stage, but only if _you_ want to go that route, too."

"Oh, at the moment, even feeling the way I do, and hating that I almost can't see my feet, and I'm finding it difficult to wax my legs, and none of my favourite clothes fit me any longer, and neither do my favourite shoes. And I can't stand up too quickly without feeling dizzy and off-balance, and..." Catherine caught her breath and looked guilty, "Uh... we've just been there, haven't we?"

"We have," Harm agreed gravely

"Oh... well... what I was wanting say," she confessed shyly, "even feeling the way I do now, the thought of having another child, someday, with you, doesn't exactly turn me off..."

"Yeah," he said tightening his arm around her shoulder in a gentle squeeze, "someday."

That sat in silence for a while as they both digested what they had said and heard, until Catherine said, "Harm?"

He turned his head to look at her as she looked up into his eyes, and then very slowly she raised herself up and then very gently kissed him on the lips.

Harm froze for a second, and then found himself responding, his lips relaxing against hers for long seconds, until she sat back and smiled up at him.

Harm looked at her in astonishment. "Uh... what... what was... what was that for?"

"Oh, for being you. For looking after me, looking after us. For promising to make me dinner. And, most importantly, because I wanted to."

"Oh crap! Yes, I did. I did promise you dinner!" Harm jack-knifed off the couch, suddenly glad that he had something to occupy his hands while his mind raced through the implications of what had just happened. He smiled down at Catherine, "Give me fifteen minutes and it'll be on the table. You just stay right there!"

"Ummm... Would you mind if I came and watched what you're doing? I'll just hop up onto one of the stools, and be as quiet as a mouse!"

Harm was surprised, "Well if you think you'll be entertained by watching me cook, then sure, be my guest!"

Catherine walked over to the kitchen island and then to her chagrin made an unwelcome discovery, without the benefit of heels, she wasn't quite tall enough to just sit on the stool, she'd have to give a little jump to manage that, and she didn't feel agile enough to do that either.

"Umm, Harm... Could you give me a hand here, please? And don't you dare laugh!"

Seeing her predicament, Harm had to force himself not to laugh, but his amusement showed in his eyes as he helped Catherine on the stool. She gave him a level look and just said, "Don't!"

"No, ma'am," Harm managed to reply as he turned back towards the stove, where after a minute or so while he fought to regain his composure he turned back to the refrigerator asking Catherine, "Which would you prefer? Alcohol free wine, or sparkling cider, or mineral water?"

"Oh, the wine for me, please. But don't think you have to abstain, just because I can't take a drink!"

"Catherine, it's no hardship, I've got so used to not drinking these days. For years I've been cooking for and eating with Mac, and she doesn't drink, so I got used to not drinking, too."

Hearing Mac's name so casually dropped into the conversation gave rise to two conflicting emotions in Catherine's heart. First there was a stab of what she realised almost instantly was jealousy, and that was totally ridiculous. She had no right to be jealous, she had no claim on the man talking to her, and the second emotion was one of relief as she scanned his face looking for any sign, and failing to find it, that he still felt tied to the marine officer, and that he was able to mention her name without the slightest sound of regret for what might have been.

Catherine spent the next twenty minutes observing Harm's sure and economical movements around his kitchen area. There was a place for everything, and everything was in its place, and his hands seemed to know where they were going and to find what they need almost it seemed without his conscious control.

Harm apologised that dinner was only two courses today, the entree and the dessert. In Catherine's opinion there was no need to apologise, the main course was chicken parmigiana, in lieu of veal, he said, which he didn't eat, accompanied by a warm green bean and new potato salad, while dessert was home-made fresh fruit salad served with natural yoghurt.

Once they'd eaten Harm gave the dishes a quick rinse under the sink faucet before stacking them in the dish-washer, and then turning to Catherine to help her down off the stool, wincing at even the light impact of her feet on the kitchen floor.

"That's the last time," he told her in a voice that he meant to convey that there'd be no argument

"What is?" asked a puzzled Catherine

"That's the last time you perch up there on a stool until Elizabeth is safely with us!"

"I was perfectly safe on the stool," Catherine protested

"Yes, I know," Harm replied in a voice of great patience, "but I didn't like the way you had to jump off it; even with me to help you. And don't say jolting and bouncing don't hurt, I saw you make a face when you were in the elevator!"

"Oh, OK, then. I won't say they don't hurt, but only because you wouldn't believe. And you wouldn't believe me if I told you that the face I pulled in the elevator was because I wasn't sure my bladder was going to hold out until I reached the bathroom, so I won't tell you that either. But what I will say is that it might be best if you didn't come with me on Tuesday evening," Catherine told him in a non-committal tone.

"Oh, why not? I said I wanted to be here for you all the way through this, so what's so special about Tuesday?"

"Gymnastics class." Catherine said blandly. "I don't think you'd survive watching me doing gymnastics."

"What sort of gymnastics?" a startled Harm demanded.

"Oh, you know, the usual girly stuff, the balance beam, the vault, the trampoline, the floor routine, you know, the one with all the back flips and somersaults, and then..."

Harm listened to the start of Catherine's list with a look of dismay that rapidly went through the stage of suspicion into an accusatory scowl. "Catherine!" he announced thunderously.

"Yes, Harm?" she replied innocently

"I don't know about me not surviving your gymnastics class! I'm not even sure of your surviving this evening!"

"Oh, I think I'll survive, Harm. After all, I have eaten your bread and salt!" she told him as her broad grin finally broke the expressionless mask she'd been fighting to hold in place. "But really" she said as she made her way back to the couch, "I'm only pregnant, not made of glass, and I won't break. Honestly!"

Harm sat down beside her, "I know you know what's best for you and for Elizabeth, but you will let me worry, just a little bit, won't you?"

"Does it help you if you worry a bit?" Harm nodded, "Oh alright then, you can worry just a teeny bit, but no going overboard, and no nagging, OK?" she conceded.

"OK," Harm agreed with a smile. "Now, you kept up your end of the bargain today, by traipsing around half the real estate in Northern Virginia, so, if you want, it's time for me to fulfill my half of the bargain."

Catherine frowned for a second as she tried to recall what he meant, and then her brow cleared, and a smile of delighted anticipation lit her face, "Oooh, if you mean a foot rub, then yes, yes please!"

"OK then, sit forward so I can re-arrange those cushions for you... yep. Good, now hold that position and that thought until I get back." Harm picked up the bundle of realtor's notices and dropped them into Catherine's lap before he crossed to the kitchen to collect the olive oil and a clean tea-towel, and then stopped at the coat tree just inside the apartment door where he dipped his hand into his jacket pocket before returning to the couch, where he gently lifted Catherine's feet to place them on the tea-towel across his thighs. He showed her a little brown glass bottle, "Lavender oil," he explained, "I'll add a drop of this to the olive oil. It helps with aches and pains, and it'll help make you smell even tastier than you already do. And, if you can concentrate while I'm subjecting you to this torture, have another look through those, and throw out the ones you didn't like, and keep hold of the ones that aren't immediate rejects!"

Harm smiled as Catherine obediently began to go through the half-dozen or so realtors' listings, I'll give her about five minutes, he told himself, before they all end up forgotten!

Twenty minutes later, he put Catherine's second foot gently back in his lap as she shuddered and groaned with relief. "Well," he asked her, "did you make a short list?"

Catherine opened her eyes and smiled dreamily at him, "You know damn well, I didn't," she told him, "You know just how devastating those foot rubs are, and you knew I wouldn't be able to concentrate!"

"Yeah, I know," he confessed, "but consider it payback for the gymnastics class." He leaned over and gently tapped the tip of her nose in reproof.

"Ugh," she protested, "your finger's all oily!"

"Yes, and it smells of olive oil and lavender too!" he grinned.

"Oh..." Catherine groaned in frustration and struggled to sit up so she could swing her feet round.

"Sit still," he told her, "what are you after?"

"A Kleenex to wipe this damn stuff off my nose!"

"Stay there, he said, I'll get one for you, and then I'll make some more tea. And while we're drinking it, we can both go through those listings!"

"Well?" he asked as they finished their tea.

Catherine lifted his arm so that she could lean into his shoulder, and wriggled into the position she found most comfortable, "Well, we saw five houses today; I can't believe you dragged me around five damn' houses! But of them all, the only one I thought that met your criteria, and that I liked too was the one on Woodford Road in Vienna. I know it might be a little further out than would be ideal for either of us, but the prices inside the Beltway are just way too high. And it's not that far out, in terms of travel. It's almost at Tyson's Corner and from there it's a clear run down to Falls Church, and a clear run for me up to Langley. We wouldn't have to worry about steps like we saw at that place we liked in McLean, and that wasn't ideal in other respects, either. And" she added shrewdly, "you liked it too, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did, it looked good. It was set back enough from the road, the back yard had a good fence, and it looked in good repair. Yeah, I liked it!"

"Enough to buy?" Harm nodded, "So, all else being equal, and if you're sure we can get the right price, yes, let's put an offer on it.

Harm nodded again, "Yep, let's do it!" He reached for the phone.

"Harm! Catherine's voice was suddenly alarmed. "We have to talk to our bank managers first, get a mortgage sorted out and..."

"Hey, cool your jets, there woman!" Harm said teasingly. "I wasn't going to call the realtor. I was going to call my mom so that you can tell her we'll be shacking up together. Besides, even if the vendors insist on the full list price, I've got it covered."

Catherine struggled upright and stared at him, speechless. "You... you've got it covered?" she finally stuttered.

"Yeah." Harm turned to face her. "When the courts granted mom's petition to have him declared legally dead, I received his GI insurance and all the survivor benefits. My step-dad, Frank, is a pretty shrewd businessman, and he set up a college fund for me, and then invested the money on my behalf. And every time I was sent any money for birthdays or Christmas, he added it to the fund. Well, when I was accepted at Annapolis, I didn't need the college fund, so Frank just kept it invested for me. It's been accumulating interest for the best part of thirty years. I don't know exactly how much it's worth today, but it will cover the purchase price of the house if we need it to. And apart from that, I own the lease on this place..."

"Harm..." Catherine's voice reflected the concern he saw in her eyes, "I... I thought we were going to go fifty/fifty on this?"

"We will and we are. I'll draw up a draft agreement showing how much your half of the share is, and then we set up an interest-free mortgage for that amount, where I'm the lender and you're the borrower. Don't worry; this was never going to be a free ride for you. But, it will be cheaper for you than paying a commercial lender. And with Elizabeth on the way, we're going to need every penny we can scrape up. Besides having to set up her college fund. We're both attorneys and I'm sure we've both got professional acquaintances and friends who'd check out the agreement, _pro bono _and look after our separate interests?"

"Yes... yes, of course I have, but it doesn't seem fair to place the entire load on your shoulders."

"Catherine, if it really bothers you, then how about... look, you thought you were going to have to come up with an equal share of the deposit, right? So... you still do that, but you pay that to me and it gets deducted immediately from the amount your borrowing, OK? That way you'll be paying your way right from the get go. And that's what's bugging you isn't it?

Catherine sank back against the cushions. What Harm had said made sense, and with the price of property in the areas they'd been looking, an interest-free mortgage would save of thousands of dollars over the years, and there would be no notary fees and no charges for setting up a mortgage, but... she still felt slightly uneasy as if she were taking advantage of him and his generosity. However, "OK Harm, we'll do it your way, if you insist."

"I most certainly do!" he said emphatically, as he reached out his arm and brought her back to where she could rest against him. "Now," he said, picking up the phone, "it's six o'clock in California, so...I ought to be able to get mom before she either sits down to dinner, or before she and Frank head out for the evening."

"Harm, no... please," Catherine protested weakly, "you've put me through enough this evening. I really can't just tell your mom right out like that, I can't!"

"I know you can't Catherine, and I never expected you to. This play is all mine!"

"Harmon Rabb!"

"Yeah, I know, I'm incorrigible!" He smiled apologetically at her. "Now, let me make this 'phone call, and then the worst will be all behind us. And don't worry, mom will love you."

He listened to the phone ringing on the other side of the continent and was prepared for it to go to voice mail, when a calm voice came over the wire, "Burnett."

Hi, Frank, it's Harm. Is mom with you?"

"Hello, Harm, yes, yes she is. I'll just go and get her for you."

x-x-x-x-x

A J Chegwidden sat in the lounge of his ranch style house on the northern outskirts of McLean, a half finished glass of single malt whisky in his hands as he stared moodily at the stone chimney breast at the far end of the room. He shook his head, he had badly miscalculated the way Rabb would respond to the offer to reinstate him in the navy in his former rank. But damn it! He had been right! Rabb had flagrantly demonstrated his lack of respect by resigning his commission rather than obey an order not to go in search of Mac. But... a nagging doubt bothered him. It was drummed into every officer, whether an academy graduate or NROTC or OCS, never to give an order that he wasn't sure would be obeyed. How had he ever thought that Rabb would obey an order not to go the rescue of the woman he loved? Or at the time thought he'd loved. And he admitted, he'd been unprofessional in his handling of Rabb when he'd brought MacKenzie safely back from Paraguay. He should have informed him calmly and succinctly that his papers had been processed and that he was effectively out of the navy. But he'd let his rancour fester and it had spilled out over Rabb in the form of a thoroughly unjustified and unpleasant personal attack, which as Rabb had said had humiliated him in front of Mac - whatever their relationship had become - and had apparently been loud enough to be overheard in the bull-pen. Congress had made A J Chegwidden an officer and a gentleman. But on that occasion he reflected he had not acted as an officer, or most decidedly not as a gentlemen. And that stung.

The admiral shook his head. It had all started to go to hell when Bud Roberts had stepped on that damn' mine. Events had spiralled so swiftly out of control that he, Chegwidden had lost his grip on the situation and, he now realised, on his staff.

He had cut Rabb free to sink or swim over the Singer case. He'd never doubted the man's innocence, so why had he acted the way he did? Why had he prohibited all contact between Rabb and his friends at JAG? The unpleasant truth, he realised was that he had done it to teach Rabb a lesson in humility; but he'd been so certain that Rabb wouldn't be found guilty, that he hadn't thought it had mattered. But it had mattered, Rabb had very nearly been convicted, and far from being humbled had become resentful, and had done very little to hide that resentment, becoming withdrawn and almost morose. And now Rabb had accused him of abandoning him when he needed his superior's support, and, Chegwidden grimaced as he took another sip of his whisky, Rabb had been right, he had been abandoned by his CO, and worse his CO had ordered the rest of his colleagues to abandon him too.

Rabb's not-guilty verdict had only served to make his own guilt the more strongly felt, and he had blamed Rabb for that too. And he now acknowledged that his treatment of Rabb since his acquittal had been fired by the anger he'd felt over feeling guilty. No wonder Rabb had lost respect for him. He hadn't deserved it. And the same held true for Rabb's lack of trust. Galindez had seen the same thing, and had said the same thing and Mac... Mac had strongly hinted that she felt the same way.

And how, he mused, would he have felt, if Rabb had returned from Paraguay with the news that Mac had been killed down there? How could he have lived with himself, or, his mood darkened even further, would Rabb have even given him the chance of living with his guilt? How could he have been willing, politics be damned, to even entertain the even the possibility that Mac might be in trouble without lifting a finger to help her, and to prohibit from doing so the one man who was willing to go to her aid. How could he have slipped so far into the political slime that he'd betrayed a code he'd lived and breathed for over thirty years? Could he have been so far removed from the honourable man he'd always thought himself to be that he was willing to let Mac die just to teach Rabb a further lesson in humility?

He shrugged his shoulders, it didn't matter now. He glanced at his bureau in the far corner of the room; even from here he could see the white envelope addressed to the Secretary of the Navy.

x-x-x-x-x

Harm drummed his fingers soundlessly on the arm of the couch and simultaneously drew Catherine closer into his side and angled the handset so that she could hear the voices coming from California.

"Hello, Harm, darling?"

"Hi, mom. Mom, can Frank hear us? I think he should."

"Wait one moment, darling, I'll get him to pick up in the other room."

Harm smiled, he could envisage his mom making impatient shooing motions with her hand and glaring at Frank. He wondered if she was wearing her reading glasses. Not that she'd ever admit that she ever wore them. The only person she allowed that privilege was Frank, although the secret had been known and silently acknowledged between the three of them for years.

"Hi, Harm, Trish, I'm here now."

"Mom, I just need you to know, that I've met a wonderful woman. Her name is Catherine, Catherine Gale. And we've just decided to buy a house and move in together."

"Oh, my God! Harmon, you could have warned me to sit down before you broke the news like that!"

Catherine's face fell at Trish's reaction, and Harm, in a reassuring gesture, held her tighter for a moment.

"Uh, mom, please moderate your excitement, Catherine's right here with me now, and can hear everything you say."

"Oh. Oh... I'm so sorry, Catherine, can you hear me?"

"Yes, I can hear you OK, Mrs..." Catherine stopped unsure of how to address her.

"I'm not Mrs anyone dear," Trish said, "You just call me Trish... or, would 'mom' be ..."

"It would be a bit premature, mom. Catherine and I are moving in together, and we're working things out, so maybe, 'mom' could be on the cards, but not just yet."

"If you're not certain, darling, and Catherine, I'm sorry if this sounds cruel, why _are_ you setting up house together?"

Harm drew a deep breath, "Because of the baby, mom."

The line stayed silent for what seemed to be a very long time. When Trish spoke again her voice had become icy. "What baby?"

"Catherine is six months pregnant mom."

"I am disappointed in you Harmon Rabb. I would have thought that at your age you would have been more responsible!"

"Umm... mom..." Harm winced, and looked at Catherine, "the baby's not mine."

"Not yours?"

"No, mom. But she will be. It will be my name entered on her birth certificate as her father."

"Do you know who the father is?"

"No, mom, I don't know and I don't care. He fled the scene as soon as he found out Catherine was pregnant. Neither she nor our baby need to have him in their lives. But I need them in mine"

When she spoke again, some of the warmth had come back into Trish's voice, but she still sounded troubled. "It's a big step you're taking, Harmon."

"No bigger than the one Frank took. In fact, mom, I'm taking much less of a step. I won't have to contend with a surly, brutish, resentful teenager."

"Harm, darling, it's not an easy task to take on another man's child."

"I know mom, but I've had nearly thirty years of watching Frank do a damn good job, and I hope I've learned from his example. Frank has been as much of a father to me as I've allowed him to be. I just wish now, that I'd let him do all that he wanted for me. I'm going to have it much easier. I'll be there for our baby right from the second of her birth, so she'll have no-one to hold me up against, and hopefully won't resent me for not being her father. So I'll have a much easier ride, and if I've learned one thing from Frank, it's that I don't have to have contributed to our baby's genes to become her father."

Trish's silence allowed Frank to interrupt, "That's very generous of you Harm."

"Frank, it's not a cent on the dollar of what I owe to you."

"Harm, darling, do you think I could talk to Catherine?"

"Hello, Trish?" Catherine took the proffered 'phone.

"Hello, dear. Who is the man with you this evening, and what has he done with my son?"

"Trish, I believe he is your son, and he gets all the credit for being who he is now."

"I'm sure you must have had something to do with it dear?"

"It's good of you to say so, but if you think he's changed for the better, then it's all self-improvement."

"I see. How long have you known him dear?"

"Just about a year, Trish."

"And you're six months pregnant now?"

"Yes."

"Congratulations on your baby dear. Did I understand that Harmon called the baby a she?"

"Yes. She's going to be called Elizabeth."

"That's a lovely name, dear. Oh, my, I've just realised. Frank! Frank, darling, we're going to be grandparents!" Trish's voice faded to almost inaudible as she forgot about the phone in her hand and tried to talk directly to Frank through the open door.

"Catherine? "

"Yes, Mr...?"

"Call me Frank. Trish is a little bit over-excited at the moment. But from what I gather she would like you to come and visit us... but from what I understand, flying isn't exactly recommended after twenty-eight weeks?"

"No... And I don't think I would be comfortable being so far away from my doctor and my health care provider when I'm so far along..."

"I understand totally. But you'd best warn Harm, that his mother is likely to descend upon him and you in the very near future!"

"I'll tell him, Frank."

Harm gently took the phone from Catherine and spoke, "Frank, we seem to have overwhelmed mom, and I think Catherine's in pretty much the same boat. So I'm going to hang up now. We'll speak again tomorrow when we've all had a chance to catch our breath."

"Sounds like a good idea, son."

"Yeah. Goodnight... dad."

Harm placed the phone back in the cradle and turned to Catherine. He blew an exaggerated breath of relief and said, "That went pretty well, I thought!"

"Well...It went a lot better than it could have done. Your mom's quite something isn't she? I thought she was going to take set dead against me, and then she suddenly turned round and said that we were making her a grandmother! I can't believe it!"

"Catherine, my mom might not be the imp of mischief that your mom is... but in her own quiet little way, she's OK."

"Yeah, she is. I wondered where you'd got that from!"

x-x-x-x-x

Mattie Grace rubbed the tears from her eyes. She was not crying, she told herself defiantly, her eyes were watering because she was tired. She gritted her teeth and strained her eyes as the light from the low wattage bulb made concentrating on the columns of figures difficult. Adding up the figures again, she crossed out one figure from the one column and added it to the other and re-totalled them. There, if she could persuade the fuel company to wait for their payment for just another ten days, then she could make this month's payment to the bank and then pay the fuel bill from next week's earnings. What she really needed was the farmers who owed her money to pay their damn' bills on time.

She looked at her watch, the watch that had been her mother's, it was eight o'clock. Again she felt the tears in her eyes, "I'm sorry, mom," she whispered, "I don't know if I can do this any more"

It was eight o'clock on a Saturday evening, it was too early to go to bed, but it was already too dark, to read without a light, and although there might have been something worth watching on television, she'd had to cut back on the amount of electricity she used. That was one more bill that she'd had to watch like a hawk, so her only real choice was between sitting on the porch and star-gazing until it got too cold, or curling up in bed and trying to sleep.

x-x-x-x-x

It was just after eight o'clock on the Sunday morning that Harm parked the Lexus outside Catherine's apartment block and pressed the buzzer for entrance.

"Harm?" Catherine's voice came over the door intercom.

"Yeah, you expecting somebody else?"

"Only my lover," Catherine teased.

Although Harm knew she was joking he felt, for a second, that someone had just gut-punched him, "Ha, ha. Not funny!" he retorted.

"M'mm... OK, I won't tell you the next time I'm expecting him to call. But can you come on up, I could do with a hand here..."

Harm heard the buzz as she pressed the entry button, and took the stairs up to the second floor, where he found Catherine waiting for him with a traditional wicker hamper, a cold-box and what looked like a go-bag. Catherine smiled and came forward to greet him, lifting her face to his, placing her hands on his shoulders and leaning towards him as her bump prevented her from getting any closer. Harm looked into her eyes and knew a moment of doubt, was he getting the signals wrong? he asked himself, before he took a chance, bent his head to hers and gently kissed her lips, which were instantly soft and giving under his. Her acceptance encouraged him to continue the kiss, in the same gentle manner, and so it was some few seconds before he drew back. Catherine opened her eyes and looked up at him, "That wasn't so bad, was it?" she asked, smiling.

"No, it wasn't bad at all," he replied, "I was just a little worried that I'd got the invitation wrong."

"Is that why you hesitated? It's not because you didn't want to?"

"Catherine, I've wanted to do that for days... I just wanted to be sure that it was what you wanted."

"I thought I'd answered that question last night."

"I thought you did too, but your answer took a few hours to sink into my brain, and by the time it had you'd gone home. And then in the best traditions of Harmon Rabb I started second guessing, you, me and the entire kiss thing."

"OK, now that we've broken the ice, so to speak, and I do like your method of ice breaking, let's make it quite clear, kissing is not only allowed, it is very much encouraged, so you don't need to wait for an invitation in the future. Is there anything in that statement that makes you think you might have to second guess any longer?" Catherine spoke severely, but again Harm saw the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth and that twinkle of mischief that she'd inherited from her mother.

"Message received, five by five, ma'am!"

"Good. Now, sir, if you will, I _could_ do with a hand with this. I can manage the cold-box, if you can take the bag and basket?"

"Now I know why you wanted me!" he mock-grumbled, "It wasn't for my brains, or my beauty, all you wanted was a strong back and a willing mind!"

"Not quite all," she said demurely, stepping into the elevator, and casting a sly glance up at him from under her eyelashes.

Harm was about to take her up on her words, and then as he felt his ears grow warm, he realised that maybe, he didn't really want to call her bluff, because it might just be that she wasn't bluffing!

"I was just thinking, about what you said, about invitations and second guessing, and it struck me that when you smile like that, you are the spitting image of your mom, and that made me think that maybe we could stop in at Kresge for an hour on our way home. I know we've planned to go and see her tomorrow anyway, but she might enjoy the extra visit. I know I would..."

Catherine looked at him doubtfully. That was either a very smooth and accomplished deflection away from a subject that had already made his ears turn pink. Or he really was that guileless, and was being totally open. Yes, she decided, he was looking back at her, his face totally open, and revealing nothing but the... hope... that she'd say yes, to his idea. Damn! She quickly dabbed at her eyes. He really did want to go and see mom, his face looked just like a little boy waiting to hear if he'd be allowed the treat he'd asked for!

Her quick dab at her eyes hadn't escaped Harm's notice. "Catherine. Are you alright? If you're not feeling up to it, we can cancel today..."

"I'm fine. Although I don't think that's a fair payback!" she smiled mistily at him.

"Huh? What?" he demanded ineloquently.

"Just because I teased you that I was expecting someone else, it isn't fair to use a girl's mom to make her jealous!"

"But... I... but I didn't... I mean..."

The 'ping' as the doors slid open to reveal one of the other residents of the apartment building waiting to take the elevator put an effective gag on Harm, as he shot a fulminating look at Catherine, who was threatening to dissolve in giggles.

"Here, give me that," he directed as he stowed her bag and the basket in the trunk of the Lexus and held out his hand for the cold-box, and placed it with the other items before closing hatch. "You are going to be so sorry for that last crack, he murmured in her ear, as arm around her waist he walked her to the passenger side door, "Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday soon and for the rest of your life!"

Her reaction was not at all what he'd expected, "Ohh, I loved that film!"

"Oh, it was a good film," he commented as he helped her up into the passenger seat, "but I preferred him in the 'African Queen'.

"Yes, of course you did," she told him with a smile as he closed the door on her, and walked around to the driver's side.

"Why would you say that?" he asked her, as he turned the key in the ignition.

"Well, Casablanca was a suspense thriller with the romance between Rick and Ilsa not quite connecting adding to the tension., while 'African Queen' was more like an action, road movie, buddy movie, with the romance between Hepburn and Bogart thrown in as a sop to the female audience. And it had such a sappy ending!"

"What's wrong with a happy ending? I suppose you'd have preferred it if they'd ended up like Thelma and Louise..."

With the two of them happily wrangling over film choices and different genres the Lexus carried them south to Charlottesville.

x-x-x-x-x

Mattie's early bed-time had resulted in her too early wake up, and after an hour of trying to get back to sleep she eventually gave up, quickly showering - she'd used up the last of the now only just-warm water, dammit, now she'd have to turn the water heater on again before she could get a hot shower - she grabbed the folder of bills, and shivering as she emerged into the chill morning, jumped into the beaten-up old truck and drove the couple of miles to the airfield, where she opened the hangar and heading straight for the office, she plugged in the electric kettle and still shivering slightly, made herself a cup of instant coffee before she faced the day. Casting a look of loathing at the bills folder, she pushed it to one side and looked at the booking board for the coming week. The three Ag Cats were all booked for each day, that was good, but that meant nine-hundred dollars a day in pilots' wages, and that was forty-five hundred for the week, and that wasn't even considering the mechanics' wages. She sucked her teeth, remembering the figures she'd gone over so many times last night. She'd have to let one of them go, but the logical choice was Frank, he was not only the newest mechanic, but was also the least skilled. The trouble was Frank had a wife and an eighteen month old son to look after. But the other guys had family too. And that damn money-pit, the twin engine Cessna 310 was still idle. She sighed, it had been her mom's idea to have the six seater available for charter, and mom would have been the pilot, but the capital outlay and the payments as well as its depreciation meant that it would have to go - if she could ever find a buyer!

So, it was back to the bills. She really needed to draft and then type a letter to the fuel company asking for a week's grace before paying their bill.

x-x-x-x-x

It was just after ten-thirty when Harm and Catherine, still happily squabbling over the merits or otherwise of various films arrived at Grace Aviation's Hangar. Mattie, who hadn't been expecting anyone to call on a Sunday morning, heard the arrival and wandered out of the office to see who had arrived, was just in time to see her newest pilot handing someone out of a silver Lexus, and as he stood to one side she saw that his companion was not only a woman, but an obviously pregnant woman!

Harm saw her standing by the hangar door, and taking hold of his companion's hand, he led her towards Mattie. "Hey, boss, I'd like you to meet Catherine... she's my..." he stopped, uncertain quite how to define Catherine without going into details which were nobody's business but their own.

Catherine gave him a look that Harm later realised could only be described as wifely exasperation and supplied the answer, "Hello, I'm Harm's girlfriend."

Mattie looked at Catherine and Harm and thought, wow! He kept that one quiet, then grinned and stuck out her hand, "Hi there, Catherine, I'm Mattie. I'm Harm's... boss."


	7. Chapter 7

**7**

Catherine cast a quick but penetrating look at both Mattie and Harm. Given Harm's recent and unexpectedly whimsical displays of humour, she hadn't really believed him when he'd greeted Mattie as 'boss', but then the girl had claimed it too… and she didn't look surprised at his introduction… so, either they had set this up previously, or incredible as it seemed he really was working for her! "Umm… are you guys snowing me, by any chance?" she addressed both of them with a doubting smile.

"No, Mattie takes care of all the paperwork and the day to day operations for Grace Aviation. Her dad flies, so I guess that in a way she's his boss too…" Catherine's smile became more the real thing, and she cocked an inquiring eye at Mattie.

Mattie's, "Yeah… I guess…" however, didn't sound too enthusiastic as she jammed her hands into her jeans' pockets and turned back towards the office.

Harm turned a concerned look at Catherine and shrugged apologetically as he started after Mattie, "Hey, wait up there, Mattie… What's up?"

"You've come to tell me you're quitting… that you're going back to work for that mean old guy." It was a statement, not a question.

"Uh… Actually, Mattie, no. He did come out here to offer me my old job back, but I said 'no'."

"Yeah?" Only a fourteen year old girl could pack so much cynicism and outright disbelief into a single syllable and for a moment Harm felt at a loss.

"Yeah, he asked, I turned him down. So as far as I know, I'm still hired by you?" He flashed a toned down version of his flyboy grin at her.

Mattie blushed and murmured something he didn't quite catch, but for the first time during the conversation she raised her blue eyes to his and he saw that they were suspiciously moist. "So whadda you doing out here on a Sunday, if you didn't come to quit? Why did you say no? I thought you wanted back in the navy?" she challenged.

Harm sighed, "Yesterday was a real bear. Catherine and I were looking at houses all day. I dragged her around five different houses, and well… you can see her… by the end of the day her feet hurt, her back ached, the baby was kicking. and she was pretty pis… uh… ticked at me. So today I brought her out here for a picnic, just to say thanks. I figured we could borrow a couple of chair from the hangar and sit and watch the 'planes come in and out."

"Yeah, whatever, help yourself to a couple of chairs… so, why did you say 'no'?"

"Mattie, there's a lot of history between me and that mean old man, as you call him. And up until a year ago, I thought we were solid. But things went to hel… things went bad between us, and I told him after what happened in the spring, that I couldn't work for him, because I didn't trust or respect him anymore. So, it doesn't matter what I might or might not want. I'm through with him, and he's through with me."

Mattie looked up at him, searching his face. His obvious honesty was easy for her to read, although her unfamiliarity with truth from grown-ups made it difficult for her to identify. At length, satisfied that he was speaking the truth, she nodded. "OK, I'll get you a couple of chairs, if you grab a trestle table?"

"Uh… Mattie…" She looked back over her shoulder at him, "Make that three chairs… you are joining us, of course?"

"Ummm… Uh… Thanks Harm, but I don't want to get in the way. Three's company and all that, you know?"

"Mattie, there's already three of us. You'll be making a fourth."

Mattie's forehead creased in a frown, and then as she understood what Harm meant, her face broke into a sunny smile, "Yeah, OK… And Harm?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

Harm removed one of the back-squabs from the Lexus to give Catherine some support and a degree of comfort while she sat in the hard wooden chair, and then poured three mugs of iced tea from a thermos. He kept his contribution to the conversation to a minimum, only occasionally corroborating facts as Catherine and Mattie dominated the talk. He had needed to bring Catherine to meet Mattie, although she had believed him when he'd told her she was only a teenager, he'd got the feeling that as Catherine's pregnancy advanced and her abdomen swelled she might start feeling a little insecure. There had he thought, already been flashes of doubt in some of their recent conversations, and the way she upped the pace of the game with her… insistence on kissing. Not that he was complaining. Catherine was a beautiful woman and her kisses were sweet, very sweet. But taken with her blatantly sexual teasing this morning… Hell, it was all well and good, and yes, it was kind of exciting too. But…

"Huh? What?" he asked as he became aware of the two women, well, woman and girl, looking at him expectantly.

"I thought you said you were a pilot!" Mattie accused him.

"I was… I am… I flew F-14s in the navy, and lots of other types too when I worked for…" Harm floundered to a confused stop. How the hell could he explain to Mattie that his last flying job had been for the CIA? He cast an agonized look at Catherine, silently begging her for help.

"The State Department," Catherine calmly finished for him. He smiled at her, that was definitely one he owed her. His smile faded as he took in her smug expression… cats and canaries sprung to his to mind… what was that devious brain of hers thinking up now?

But his answer still hadn't appeased Mattie's curiosity, "So what were you doing in court when you fired a weapon into the ceiling?" she demanded.

"Oh… Catherine! Please tell me you didn't…?"

"Of course I did! It's one of the best Harmon Rabb stories around!"

"Mattie. That story is so old! It ought to have been forgotten years ago!" He turned back to Catherine, "Where the hell did you hear that?"

"Oh… Clayton Webb filed it away for you… and I just… uh… happened to find the file."

Both women noticed the bleak look that swept across his face when Catherine mentioned Webb's name, and Mattie was about to ask Harm what this guy had done to piss him off, but Catherine caught her eye, and with just the faintest frown and the slightest shake of her head, she dissuaded the teenager from any questions on the thorny subject of Webb, which would almost certainly raise further questions about the even touchier subjects of Mac and Paraguay.

"So…" Mattie picked up her original thread and continued with teenage persistence, "What were you doing in court?"

"I am a pilot, Mattie, but I'm also a lawyer. I used to be a lawyer in the navy - that mean, old, bald guy that was here on Friday?" He waited for her nod of recall, "Well, he's the Judge Advocate general for the US Navy and for the Marine Corps. I used to work for him."

Mattie gave him a quizzical look, "You're a lawyer, right?"

"Uh-huh"

"And lawyers earn like thousands of buck an hour? Right?"

"Well… in private practice, they can earn a lot, yeah, but not thousands."

Mattie gave a look full of disbelief, "Yeah, right."

"Honest injun, he assured her, "ask Catherine - she's a lawyer too!"

Mattie looked aghast, "That poor kid!" She exclaimed looking at Catherine's belly, "Mom _and_ Dad lawyers? It's doomed."

Harm was about to remonstrate with her when Catherine caught the look of mischief in her eye and intervened, "Oh, Mattie, please don't make me laugh - with the pressure she's putting on my bladder, if I laugh, I'll pee myself!"

"Yeah… OK, I'll go easy on you", Mattie agreed with a smile, "But I ain't letting _you_ off the hook, Harm. How come if you're a lawyer, that you end up crop dusting for less a day than you could get in a hour?" The look she gave him was part challenge and part suspicion.

"Yeah, how come, Harm?" Catherine reinforced Mattie's question.

It began to dawn on Harm that maybe he'd made a mistake allowing these two to become acquainted, "Hey! No fair!" he complained, "No tag-teaming me!"

Catherine gave him that slow, patient, half-pitying look, "Harm, we're not tag-teaming you. We're ganging up on you! Right, Mattie?"

"Damn straight!" The teenager grinned.

Harm looked at them in turn, a helpless expression on his face, "I'm doomed, aren't I?"

The mirror-image smug smiles he received in return were all the confirmation that he needed. Groaning, he got to his feet, "OK, I know when I'm whipped; I'll just go get the food like a good little boy, then, shall I?"

"Yeah, good thinking," Catherine agreed, "our daughter's getting hungry."

Harm stopped for a second and looked back over his shoulder at Catherine, 'our daughter', he smiled. "Hey, I like the sound of that," he said softly to her.

Catherine looked blank for a second, and then remembering exactly what words she had used, she blushed, and retorted in embarrassed affection, "You are such a sap, Harm Rabb!"

Mattie looked in momentary confusion between the two of them, and then as she realised what had been said, and perhaps more importantly what had been left unsaid, she smile sunnily at them both.

Mattie wasn't quite sure what to expect when the food was laid out on the table, but her face fell when she noticed the distinct lack of pizza, or animal protein, but with the curiosity and appetite of youth she made a respectable dent in the assortment of cold quiches, salads, dips and crispy vegetables that she tried, and was compelled to admit that it wasn't a bad lunch.

Harm raised his eyebrows at the lukewarm compliment, and Mattie quick to realise her solecism, added hurriedly, "I don't mean that there was anything wrong with it Harm, it was just different… you know, strange to me and I'm not really used to this sort of thing…" she trailed off anxiously, hoping that she hadn't offended the man who was in some sort her host for the day, as well as being one of her employees.

Catherine saw Mattie's awkwardness and stepped smoothly into the breach. "Anyway, Harm, you still haven't answered Mattie's question; why are you dusting crops, instead of running a law office?"

"Well… it's like I told AJ on Friday," he replied, grateful to Catherine for smoothing over what could have been a difficult moment for Mattie, "I get to choose my hours..." a slight cough from Mattie caused to him to grin and to add, "within reason, I don't have to wear a suit, and I like my boss." He finished his summation, with a full blown grin at Mattie, which caused her to undergo a feeling she'd never had before, and made Catherine feel slightly weak at the knees and thank all the saints that she was already seated.

Catherine was the first to recover, and leaning towards Mattie she said in a stage whisper, "You shouldn't believe everything he says, you know, he's such a shocking flirt…"

Mattie blushed and then over-compensating she came back with, "Yeah, but an effective one…" with a significant glance at Catherine's bump, and then horrified realisation of what she'd said struck her, "Oh… crap! Catherine... I'm so…" and her eyes shot back and forth between Catherine and Harm as she flamed crimson, desperately wishing for a hole in the ground into which she could sink and then pull the top closed over her.

To her relief however, although Harm looked dumbstruck, Catherine burst into peals of laughter, "Mattie," she gasped through her laughter, "you will never know just how effective his flirting is!"

Harm shot Catherine a filthy look, and then as the meaning of what she was saying made its way from his ears to his brain, he grinned sheepishly, and said, "And you don't need to listen too much to what she says, either Mattie; remember she's a sneaky little lawyer too!"

His accusation caused Mattie to giggle and Catherine to renew her laughter, until she suddenly stopped and clasped her belly, "Oh…" and a strained expression crossed her face.

Harm was instantly on his knees next to her chair, "What is it Catherine? Not the baby? Please, it's too soon!"

"No… no… relax, it's not the baby, Harm, it's just… Remember what I said about not making me laugh? Mattie, could you _please _show me where the rest room is?"

Harm gave Catherine his hands to help her up to her feet and stood by ready to catch her in case she overshot her centre of balance and then stood for a few moments as Mattie led Catherine's waddling progress towards the hangar's side door. He had barely taken his seat again and freshened the three drinks standing on the table when Mattie returned, and in answer to his raised eyebrow she grinned, "Said she didn't need me to go in with her and hold her hand."

Harm grimaced, "Too much detail there, boss."

Mattie kept her grin in place, but stayed silent, gratefully taking a sip of her iced tea, and reflecting ruefully that Harm's words described exactly how she'd felt as during their short walk to the hangar, Catherine had explained about how the weight of the baby pressed on her bladder, and that laughing caused the baby to bounce up and down, adding to her physical discomfort. But not as much, Mattie thought, as Catherine's words had added to her mental discomfort. But before she'd had much time to develop her train of thought she was brought back to the here and now, by Harm's insistent voice. She looked up in surprise, and could see by the puzzled expression on his face that he must have called her at least a couple of times.

Seeing that he had re-captured her attention, he grinned, "Hey, Space Cadet Mattie, what planet were you visiting?"

"Oh…" she hesitated, "Planet baby, I guess, I was just thinking about what Catherine told me about being pregnant and how…"

"Aw… yeah, right… Now, that really would be too much information," he mumbled.

Mattie looked across at him in astonishment… was that a… it was! Harm was blushing like a twelve-year old in her first health-ed class!

Harm saw the dawning realisation of his plight cross Mattie's face and the beginning of a triumphant grin, but fortunately he was saved from further discomfiture - or so he thought - by Catherine's stately return from the hangar. The necessity for making sure that Catherine was safely bestowed and comfortable in her seat was a sufficient interruption of his and Mattie's conversation for him to regain his usual colour and composure and for him to stretch out his hand and retrieve Catherine's beaker from the table.

She looked at it and grinned wryly, "Uh, I don't think so, Harm… I know I've just made room for more, but I think I'd like to keep it that way for a while longer…"

"Yeah, geez, Harm, don't you know anything about how the baby's weight presses on a woman's bladder, and makes her want to pee all the time…" Mattie chipped in, hoping to see if she could get Harm blushing again. She was not disappointed as the colour flooded his face again.

Catherine was about to interrupt a flow of information that she was sure that Harm didn't want or need to know, and that she wasn't quite sure that Mattie, at her age, ought to know, but then she saw the teasing smile on the young girl's face and turning to look at Harm saw that not only were his cheeks red, but that his ears were burning crimson. The temptation was too much.

"Oh, Mattie," she said, apparently disregarding Harm's presence, "that's the least of it, apart from wanting to pee all the time, by the end of the day, your ankles get so swollen and your feet hurt so much, plus of course there's the back-ache, and the nausea…"

"Oh, Catherine, please…" Harm begged, "you're killing me here!"

"Well, so I should!" she declared, with a hidden wink to Mattie, "after all, it's all your fault…"

"Oh, no! No it's not!" But then Harm realised he really couldn't have this conversation with Catherine in front of a witness, "You are at least half to… you are at least half responsible…" he defended himself weakly.

"No I'm not," Catherine stated calmly, "You sweet talked me into this… remember? It was all your idea." She smiled sweetly at him and Harm only then realised that somehow, she and Mattie had by some unspoken means set him up.

He summoned up a rueful smile and shook his head, "OK, you got me," he admitted, as he relaxed back into his seat.

Catherine turned back to smile at Mattie as the teenager hissed "Yes!" and pumped her first into the air.

Harm looked soulfully at them both, "I knew this whole idea was a mistake…" he lamented, only to have his complaint drowned out by two distinctly different giggles. "Oh, well… If I get ahead and clear this mess up, it might give you two a chance to regain what little wits you might still have left…"

The two women sat and smiled beatifically at him.

By dint of an herculean effort Harm managed to keep the rest of the afternoon's conversation on more or less innocuous subjects, ranging from whether or not they'd decided on baby names, Elizabeth was a given of course, but neither of them had come up with a suitable middle name; Mattie's contribution was "For God's sake, don't let it be Mathilda!", which raised a smile from both Harm and Catherine.

Mattie too smiled, it seemed that without either of them noticing, Harm and Catherine had edged their chairs nearer each other, and while not ignoring Mattie, their attention during the baby-name part of the conversation had been almost wholly focused on each other; and at some stage their fingers had become loosely intertwined as their hand hung at their sides.

It was only when Harm described the difference between flying bi-plane relics of a by-gone age and the aircraft that he swore was the best modern military airplane in the world, the F-14 Tomcat, that a slightly discordant note was struck, even while he was speaking, he felt a pang of regret at the knowledge that never again would he be allowed to strap-on one of those beautiful machines. Mattie couldn't know, and Catherine could only guess what was wrong, but despite Harm's valiant attempt to ignore it, both of his companions felt the shadow that had passed over him.

In an effort to divert the sombre mood that Catherine felt sure was about to descend up on him, she shivered, almost theatrically and asked, "Hey, guys, I'm sorry to bust up this party, but Harm, I'm getting a bit tired… would you mind if we headed back to DC?"

"No… of course, not. And Mattie, I'm sorry… you came here to do some work, and we've kept you distracted all afternoon."

"Hey, don't sweat it… I'm a teenager, I'm supposed to cut class once in a while…"

x-x-x-x-x

Mattie watched as Harm's SUV rolled across the parking lot to the exit road, and then sighed as she turned back towards the office with a sinking feeling in her stomach. For the past few hours she'd been able to relax and temporarily put her problems on the back burner. She liked Harm, he made her feel warm and comfy, and she'd liked Catherine too. The older woman had treated her if not quite as an equal, but without being patronising and condescending. She had been remarkably open about her pregnancy symptoms, and hadn't tried to dress anything up in baby language; in short she'd treated Mattie like a friend. And it had been fun too; the way the two of had teased Harm. Poor guy, she reflected, he hadn't stood a chance, as much chance as she had she thought bitterly as she sat at her desk, of keeping the company afloat, and with sigh reached for the pile of bills and receipts. All at once tears sprang to her eyes as she contrasted this afternoon with the struggle she had with the rest of her life, just trying to keep her mom's business alive for her. She was a freaking teenager! She should be enjoying family life, instead of missing her mom. The afternoon she had just spent with Harm and Catherine showed her what life could - should - be like for her; and the contrast between what should be and what was, only reinforced the sense of hopelessness that threatened to overcome her. Damn her dad! Damn him for drinking and driving! Damn him to everlasting hell for killing her mom! And damn him for taking out that damn loan anyway. Mattie slumped over the desk, buried her face in her hands and wept tears of pain, loneliness and loss.

x-x-x-x-x

Sarah MacKenzie was restless. She'd tried sitting curled up in her favourite armchair, and had spent thirty eight minutes and twelve seconds attempting to read the latest John Le Carré novel_, 'The Constant Gardener' _but had given it up as a bad job. She had spent another forty two minutes and twenty seven seconds channel hopping, hoping to find a Sunday afternoon movie to engage her interest. That attempt too had resulted in failure. The last of her four cups of tea stood half-finished and cold on her coffee-table, and her face wore a pout of discontent.

Damn Rabb anyway, him and his Goddam moral certainties. What right did he have to criticize her? Or the choices she made, whether those choices were professional or personal. And damn him for trying to lay a guilt trip on her, and damn those insubordinate squids in the bull-pen too. It wasn't her fault that he'd resigned his commission; she hadn't asked him to. And damn him for not standing up for himself when the Admiral had reamed him out. How the hell was she supposed to defend him, when he hadn't lifted a fucking finger to help himself? And damn Coates too. She was only signed up for one enlistment, she hadn't put sixteen years of her life into a career, how the hell was she supposed to risk that for a man who didn't… who she didn't… anyway, for a man who'd already cooked his goose, and who hadn't returned her calls, and who had been so scathing and indifferent to her when she'd confronted him. That wasn't cowardice; that was plain good sense and self preservation. And talking of self preservation…

She reached over for the 'phone and dialed in a number, waiting for the pick up at the other end; the phone rang, again and again until there was a click in her ear, and a voice, _I am sorry, I am unable to come to the 'phone right now, please leave a message at the tone, and I will call you back when I am able. Thank you._

Dammit! That was not the number she had meant to call! Although the sound of Harmon Rabb's voice made her heart jump into her throat and her eyes sting.

Redialling the number she really wanted, she told herself, brought no improvement; the 'phone must have been ringing off the hook, but remained unanswered. "And damn you too, Clayton Webb! Where the hell are you now, when I need you…" Sarah fought back the tears. OK, so maybe Clay was out of town, well that was part of his job… but he could at least have let her know he was leaving. But that didn't explain the loneliness she felt…

That was it, she needed some company… picking up her 'phone she scanned through the speed dial list: Sturgis Turner, well she could include him out, despite his own ongoing arguments with Rabb, he too had turned a definite cold shoulder to her since she'd returned from Paraguay, Bud and Harriett… well, maybe… but she really didn't feel like an afternoon of what passed for domestic bliss in the Roberts' household, Carolyn Imes, oh yeah, that would be a great career move, wouldn't it. Consorting with a former officer who'd been dishonourably discharged that very week. The admiral? Forget it, baby!

The stark realisation took hold of her… she had no friends to whom she could turn. She could seek company, sure, McMurphy's would be having their Sunday afternoon Happy Hour, but going to a bar on her own, and in her present mood would be courting disaster twice over. So her personal life sucked, and face it, so did her professional life, she was barely tolerated now by people she once considered, how was it Rabb had described Imes? Oh, yes, respected colleagues, well not any more, at least it didn't appear that any of them respected her any more. Face it, her life, personal and professional, was a mess. And damn Rabb was right, what was she doing still serving under an officer who had abandoned her to torture and death. Almost without volition she found herself sitting at her computer and opening its word-processing program. Thirty minutes later she sat back with a sigh, and closed the document on which she had been working, saving it under the filename of _ResignationLetter,_ and sending it via e-mail to her military e-address..

Her shoulders slumped, but at the same time she felt as if a great weight had been lifted off them.

x-x-x-x-x

Harm and Catherine had been heading north on US-29 fo4 nearly an hour when she turned her head towards him, "Harm, I thought you were going to go flying today?"

"Yeah, well… I was. Until I saw how you and Mattie were ganging up on me. I was afraid that if I left you two alone together for an hour, by the time I got back, I wouldn't have had any secrets, or any dignity left!" Although he was smiling, Catherine wondered if perhaps there wasn't more than just a germ of truth in his words.

Smiling back at him to let him know that she hadn't taken his words too seriously, she replied, "Well, you might have had a point there." She deliberated for a few seconds before saying "I liked Mattie."

"Good!" he smiled in satisfaction, he liked the teenager too, and he was hoping that Catherine and she would get on well together.

Catherine's face lost its smile as she asked in a serious tone, "Have you ever met Mattie's folks?"

"No… no, I haven't, but I've only been working for her for a few days. I know her mom's dead, and her dad seems to spend every hour he can in the air. Whether that's to take his mind off losing his wife, or just trying to earn every penny he can, I don't know." He paused for a few seconds, and then drawing his brows together in a frown he asked, " Why?"

"Well… on my way back from the rest room, I took a wrong turning - it's pretty dark in that hangar," she added defensively as she saw a skeptical look come over his face.

"OK," he conceded, "and…?"

"Well I sort of stepped into her office, and the desk was covered with bills, a lot of them marked 'Past Due', and they were all addressed to her, not her father…"

"Well if she's running the paperwork, that's reasonable."

"Yeah, but if she's doing the paperwork and running the daily operations, what's she doing about school? Harm, she's what, fifteen years old?"

"Well, fourteen, I think."

"Even worse! Harm, she should be at school every day, not trying to run a business, particularly not one that looks like it's struggling to stay afloat. Harm we need to talk to her father!"

Harm considered what Catherine had said, and was overcome by an uneasy feeling that he, and probably Catherine too, had missed something significant. "Well… she might be home schooled," he suggested. But a snort of rebuttal from Catherine made him glance across at her. She had a frown on her face, but he guessed it was through concern with Mattie's situation rather than from annoyance at his response, although it was also pretty clear that she didn't believe in his theory either..

"Yeah… you're right… I think I'll take an early run down here tomorrow morning… see if I can catch hold of him before he starts work for the day… If I can't catch him before work, I'll wait until he gets back, but that might mean I'll be really late back. If that happens, I'll call you, OK?"

Catherine looked over at him, "Thanks, Harm. I know I'm probably worrying over nothing, and that Mattie is being home-schooled but… I'm… uh… still worried." She laughed self-consciously, "It's probably nothing, just all those maternal hormones sloshing around inside me…"

"Hey, I may not be able to do anything about your maternal instincts, but if they are making you worry, then the least I can do is try and get rid of the cause of those worries!"

"Thanks, Harm." She sighed heavily.

"What was that for?"

"All of a sudden I feel like Maria von Trapp."

"What?"

"Well, I was thinking, trying to think anyway, about what I'd done to deserve you, and then I remembered Maria… From 'The Sound of Music?" she prompted him seeing him baffled.

"Oh… oh, yeah. I got it now - go on!"

Catherine raised her eyes to the heavens, "Well, in the movie, there's a duet between the Captain and Maria, and in it she sings, that 'somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good…' and that…" Catherine became tongue-tied and flushed crimson. Making a supreme effort, although her cheeks were still bright red, she continued "and just then, when you said about getting rid of worries for me, that was the way I felt. Pretty corny, huh, and not to mention way overboard?" She smiled weakly, hoping to God that she hadn't just scared him off.

"Well, yeah, it's pretty corny, and yeah it's way overboard… but it's kinda flattering too…" he responded with a smile, and then reaching out with his right hand he caught her left hand and squeezed gently. "Just don't go buying me any shiny armour and a white horse just yet, though, please."

Catherine managed a weak chuckle, "I'll try and resist the temptation," she said, giving his hand a gentle squeeze before she reluctantly let him go.

x-x-x-x-x

Esther Gale smiled in tired satisfaction as Catherine and then Harm, much to her surprise, bestowed a goodnight cum goodbye kiss on her cheek and left her hospital room as they'd entered, hand in hand. Her instincts about that young man had been completely right, she sighed happily to herself, he was going to be so good for her Catherine, and unless her instincts were now leading her well astray, he was going to be a fantastic father for Catherine's child; no, she corrected herself, for their child.

Her gentle, non-accusatory, but leading, method of questioning had led to him being more and more open and forthcoming with each visit he'd made, and although her curiosity had sometimes made Catherine blush and protest that she was embarrassed, Esther Gale now knew more about Harmon Rabb than any of his contemporaries at JAG, and although she was glad enough of that information for its own sake, his answers to her questions had necessarily been heard by Catherine, which of course was exactly what she had intended right from the start.

And he was so attentive too, not just to Catherine, but to herself. It had been he who had seen the first signs of fatigue that she'd tried to conceal, and had said that he would love to stay for a while, but he was afraid that the day had been too long for Catherine already. She really would have to speak to him about making up better excuses, but that could wait… for the moment she was so very tired… It would be so easy just to let go, but she wasn't about to let that happen. She wasn't going to go until she was good and ready, and that wouldn't be until after she had seen Catherine's baby…


	8. Chapter 8

**8**

Harm's SUV pulled out of the Kresge Health Centre's parking lot and merged with the traffic headed back towards DC. A couple of minutes into the drive on the Curtis Memorial Parkway, Harm glanced across at a silent Catherine, who seemed to be deep in thought. "You OK there?"

"H'mm? Yeah. Fine. I was just thinking…"

"About your mom? I thought she looked tired today… I worry sometimes that I wear her out."

Catherine smiled at that, "No… you're a tonic for her. Honestly Harm, she's so much livelier, so much more interested in life since she met you."

"H'mm, are you sure that it's not Elizabeth, that's making her that way?"

"Oh, I'm sure that's got something to do with it… " Catherine agreed with a smile that Harm could sense, but not turn his head to see, "but if it wasn't you for being here, it would only make her worry the more…"

"Uh-huh, but you're still worrying about her?"

"No… well, yes, of course. But that's not the bug up my ass at the moment. I was thinking about young Mattie… Look, I know I'm supposed to cook this evening, but…"

"No, no you're not. You made the picnic, remember?"

"Yeah, OK, whatever. But can we go to your place? I want to check something and talk to you…"

"You sure? You don't want just to go straight home? I mean, I thought you'd be tired…"

"Yesterday, you dragged me around half the homes in Northern Virginia. Yesterday I was tired. Today, all I've really done is sit on my ass. Today, I am not tired. Well… no more than to be expected," she finished with a chuckle.

Harm grinned, "Your wish is my command, mistress."

Catherine sat back and allowed herself to be diverted for a few moments from thinking about Mattie. 'You wish is my command, huh?' she thought. 'Oh, Harm if you really knew what my wishes about you involved, you'd probably run a mile! I mean, I knew being pregnant would make me moody, I knew about morning sickness, and the back ache and the swollen ankles and tired feet, and not being able to reach down and tie up my shoes, what I didn't know about being pregnant as that it was going to make me as horny as hell! And you are just so damn cute and handsome! Dammit! With that smile I'd probably be willing… if even I wasn't pregnant - and that might be easier, if I wasn't pregnant, if I wasn't so fat. C'mon Catherine Mary Gale, get a grip on yourself - it's not as if he's even going to look at you right now!'

Catherine had been so immersed in her thoughts that it was with some surprise that she realised that they had arrived back outside Harm's apartment in what seemed to be a very short time indeed. Harm hesitated before he turned off the ignition, "Are you sure you want to face that elevator again?"

Catherine managed a weak smile, it wasn't her favourite place in the world she wryly admitted to herself, "Well, as long as you live here, I'm going to have to face it aren't I? I don't quite see myself tackling three flights of stairs, well, not for the foreseeable future anyway!"

Harm smiled in sympathy. He had vivid recollections of having to carry a new bookcase up those stairs when, on the day he'd bought it, the elevator had thrown a hissy-fit and decided that it wasn't going to work. There were times when he was convinced that the elevator was haunted by a vengeful spirit who knew exactly when a malfunction would cause the greatest inconvenience, effort and pain.

"Well, at least it's only us. We can leave the rest of the stuff in the car until you're ready for me to take you home. And," he added with heavy emphasis, "tomorrow I'm going to call the realtor and make an offer on that house in Vienna. So with any luck, neither of us will have to contend with the damn elevator for much longer!"

Fortunately, on this occasion the damned elevator, or its guiding spirit, decided to co-operate, and apart from one series of alarming judders as it rose to the second floor, it behaved itself, coming to rest with its normal noisy groan just an inch or so short of the floor level on the third floor.

Letting them into the apartment, Harm prepared Catherine's nest of cushions on the couch, but raised his eyebrows in mild surprised, when she indicated his PC on the desk at the end of the living area, "May I? I did say I wanted to check a couple of things out?"

"Sure, go ahead… I'm told by people who know about these things that it's a bit on the slow side, but hey, it does what I want it to…"

Catherine smiled, Harm's was the usual response of the Luddite dragged kicking and screaming into the computer age, although she suspected that his attitude was partly a front and that he was far more computer savvy than he let on, and his suspicion of them was due to a dislike of the technology rather than an inability to use it.

While she settled herself at the computer, Harm moved into the kitchen area and busied himself with pots and pans, "Dinner in about half-an-hour, Catherine?"

"Oh, yes - great, thanks."

Harm grinned, he had heard that abstracted, preoccupied tone of voice before, usually from Bud Roberts as the younger man settled down for a long session in front the PC. It was beyond Harm how these people did it, after about twenty minutes in front of the screen, his eyes ached and he'd had enough. How the hell RIOs coped with all the screens they were constantly switching between and kept some sort of spatial awareness he had no idea. As far as he was concerned, the RIO had the most difficult and thankless job, while all he had to do was fly the airplane. And got all the credit, he acknowledged with a twinge of guilt.

Looking at Catherine as she became absorbed in her self-imposed task, Harm contented himself with preparing the meal and then making two mugs of raspberry and rose-hip tea. By the time he carried them over to the computer Catherine had covered half a sheet of a legal pad with notes, and had a faintly concerned frown on her face.

"Hey, take a break girl, I don't want the tea to get cold, and I don't want to put it on the desk… please?"

Catherine smiled, "Of course not…" she held out her hands so that he could help her to her feet and then waddled over to the sofa, "You got my cushions ready for me…" she said with a teasing glint in her eye, "Aw… shucks… But come and sit down, and I'll tell you what I've found so far…"

Harm sat beside her, and passed her one of the mugs of tea, which Catherine balanced precariously on the couch arm while she ran down the notes she had made. Satisfied they were in order she picked up the mug and took a sip before she spoke.

"OK, I've been looking up Grace Aviation and Crop Dusting. The legal owner is Mathilda Grace Johnson - Mattie, I assume - but because she's a minor her father, Thomas Johnson, has enduring power of attorney. A quick look at the company books on line shows that it is on the verge of going under, due primarily to having repay a loan taken out six months ago by Mr Johnson, as well as the outstanding mortgage on a house, which is also listed as a company asset. The loan is being met - just, as is the mortgage, but reading between the lines, it appears that there are several other recurring bills that the company is having problems meeting. Looking at Grace Aviation's legal notices, the local power company has filed for a lien on Grace Aviation's profits in order for outstanding bills to be paid, and the county is filing for payment of unpaid taxes - both business and residential. Harm, unless something is done, that girl is on the verge of losing her business and her home…. The other point, Harm, is that in the listing of company officers, there is no mention of legal representation…"

"So…?"

"So that means, with the power company and the county filing legal claims against the company, then Mattie's father is trying to deal with them without legal representation…"

Harm frowned, he thought he could see where this was going, but rather than jump to conclusions, he considered for a moment, "What's your point, Catherine?"

"Well, you're a member of the Virginia State Bar, aren't you? You could sort of… step in and help, and you'd do it _pro bono_, too."

"Catherine I would if I could… but I'm a litigator, a criminal lawyer… I don't know enough about civil law…"

"M'mm… maybe. But you did damn good on the _Angelshark_ case, and you've pursued torts before, haven't you?"

"Yeah, but that was against other navy lawyers, and you…" he smiled at her, "but going against the sorts of lawyers the utilities companies and banks retain… Oh, don't get me wrong… I want to help, I'd like to help. I just don't know if I can…"

Catherine looked at him with an encouraging smile, "You can do it, Harm. I know you can…" But she was troubled, 'What the hell's happened here. Last year, with the _Angelshark_, he was convinced that he could take on and beat the world. What the hell have Sarah MacKenzie, the Admiral, Webb and the CIA done to him?' she thought.

"I wish I was as sure…" he grinned hopefully at Catherine, "but what about you? The work you do for the Company is more like civil law than litigation anyway…?"

"Oh, Harm! Of course I'll help. But… I thought maybe as you have a closer connection to Mattie that it wouldn't seem quite so… that you weren't…"

"Just an interfering busybody?"

Catherine chuckled, "Not the words I'd have used, but yes, in essence!"

Harm nodded thoughtfully, certainly, if Catherine was right, someone needed to act, and act quickly to prevent Mattie from losing her company… "Catherine, did you say that the house was listed as a company asset?"

"Yes, why?"

"Well, if the company goes under, then Mattie will lose her home as well as her company?"

"Well… yes… I should think so…"

"OK. I say let's do it!"

"Yes?"

"Yes! The two of us should be able to apply sufficient brainpower to figure a way to get Mattie out of the hole she's in." Harm thought for a moment more, "That list of company officers and appointments, does it show a CPA?"

"H'mm… wait, wait… Yes. Charles Brewer, Charlottesville." Looks like whoever selected him went for location as the main criterion.

Harm smiled grimly, "Well, who'd have thought that a CPA and a house could have so much in common…"

Catherine looked up, a blank expression on her face, "Huh?"

"Well, that's a highly articulate response, Miss Gale," Harm teased her, enjoying the colour mounting to her cheeks, "I meant a CPA and house having in common: location, location, location…"

Catherine fanned herself with the papers she held. She didn't quite know whether to laugh or be furious with Harm and/or herself; him for his teasing, or her for firstly missing the obvious link and secondly for blushing.

Harm relented, "It's OK, Catherine… just a little bit of payback for the hard time you and Mattie gave me this afternoon."

Catherine gulped, "A little bit? You mean there's more to come?"

"No… I'm magnanimous enough to be content with what I've achieved." Besides, I do not want to turn this into a war of attrition, "Well, as far as you're concerned, anyway," he assured her, "Miss Johnson on the other hand…"

"Harm! You cannot possibly be so petty and immature as to look for revenge on a high school kid!"

"Revenge?" Harm's eyebrows shot to the top of his forehead, "That's a bit melodramatic, Catherine. I'd prefer to think of it as payback - and yes, I can be that immature! After all, it's not so very long ago that someone called me Peter Pan!"

Catherine looked at him carefully at that. Yes, he was smiling, well, his mouth was; on this occasion the smile didn't seem to have reached his eyes, and there had definitely been a bitter edge to his tone. It was almost as if he was conflicted, but whether over the name or who had called him it she hadn't got the faintest idea.

Despite her misgivings, Catherine smiled back at him, "Well, if that's the case, I'd say watch your step! I have a feeling that Mattie might just prove to be a more than worthy opponent!"

This time Harm's smile was genuine, "Yeah, she's quite something isn't she!"

Catherine nodded, content to see the change in his mood. Before she had consented to his wild plan, she'd always thought of him as stoic, unemotional and unable to express himself, but as she'd got to know him she realised that he could be quite mercurial, and that if someone looked closely, at his eyes, not just at his face, then his emotions could be quite clearly read.

"So, now we've decided that we are going to be involved, how about that dinner you promised me?"

Harm looked at her quizzically, "After that huge picnic, you're still hungry?"

"Yep, and getting hungrier by the minute." She stroked her bump and smiled gently up at him, "After all, I am eating…"

"For two!" he finished for her. "Alright then, I'll get started on dinner." He looked at her thoughtfully. "In the meantime, you stay where you are and see if you can come up with some sort of plan to help Mattie."

"But…"

He held up a finger to stall her, "And I'll be doing the same while I'm preparing dinner!"

x-x-x-x-x

Harm yawned as he lay back on the pillow and linked his fingers behind his head. He was tired but his brain was whirling after all that had happened today - no, he corrected himself - more accurately what had happened this evening, and sleep was being elusive. He'd been glad enough that Catherine had seemed to hit it off with Mattie, and had seen that she was little more than a child, albeit a remarkably mature child considering her few years, and equally pleased that Mattie seemed to like Catherine.

What he hadn't expected was Catherine divining that something was way wrong with the set up at Charlottesville, especially when he hadn't - he must have been flying round there with eyes shut - and then her decision to leap in at the deep end and her determination that whatever was broken needed to be fixed. Then there had been dinner and its aftermath…

Despite his concerns he was forced to smile. He'd cooked, they'd eaten, he'd cleaned up and made tea and then he had sat with Catherine on the couch. What a wonderful piece of furniture that couch was turning out to be. They'd drunk their tea while discussing how best to sort out the situation at Charlottesville, and at one stage as their heads were bent over Catherine's notebook, they'd turned, almost as if by arrangement, to look at each other, their mouths had been inches apart, and then they'd kissed. This wasn't a formal, good morning, goodbye, or goodnight kiss. This was a soft but passionate kiss, a real kiss. And the next thing he'd known it was an hour and a half later, they both had mussed hair, bruised lips and a slightly glazed look in their eyes. They had been making out on the couch like a couple of teenagers, but with the added bonus that neither of them had parents that were likely to interrupt their session.

"Oh… wow…" had been his highly articulate comment.

"Yeah…" Catherine had been as equally eloquent.

"Ummm… where do we go from here?" His tone had been half hopeful, half fearful.

Catherine fought down her nearly overwhelming urge to just say 'bed', but she had caught the hesitation in his tone and fell silent for a moment or two.

Eventually, she cleared her throat, "Look, we talked about having a baby, or babies together at some time in the future, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"And I assume that you'd be wanting to make those babies the way Mother Nature intended?"

"Uh-huh…"

"Yeah, me too… but…"

"Yeah, but…"

"Harm, even if I wasn't pregnant, I don't think tonight would be the right time to practice baby… No the hell with it let's just call a spade a spade. Harm, as much as I might want to make love with you tonight, I just don't think we're quite ready to take that step. Not just yet."

Harm was conscious of a feeling of relief mixed with disappointment. "No, you're right. We're not there yet." Then he smiled gently, looking deep into her eyes, "But we will be… one day."

"Oh, yes, we will," Catherine agreed, her voice little more than a throaty whisper, as she smiled back at him.

Harm leaned in for one more gentle kiss, which she gladly returned, before he sat back and raised his arm, allowing her to snuggle into him, her head in the hollow of his shoulder. He dropped a further gentle kiss on to the crown of her head, "M'mm, vanilla…" he smiled, "that's fast becoming one of my favourite flavours…"

"H'mmm…"

Several minutes passed while Catherine was day-dreaming of the house in Vienna, the back yard filled - well not filled - but occupied with her and Harm's children playing peacefully together, while he and she kept a watchful eye over them from the sun deck.

Her reverie was interrupted by Harm's question, "What do you think about Patricia?"

Catherine craned her head back so she could look up at him, a puzzled frown furrowing her brow, "Patricia? Who's she?"

"My mom. What I meant was what do you think of Patricia as a middle name for our daughter?"

"H'mmm… Elizabeth Patricia Rabb…" Catherine said, trying the sound of the name. "Yeah, I like it… but what will your mom say?" She also liked the way he'd said 'our daughter' - for the second time today.

"She'll be delighted, Catherine, and… it would make me very happy too. Besides, there's no guarantee," he added diffidently, "that even if we do have other children, that there will be another daughter to be named after mom…" his eyes pleaded with her.

Catherine thought for a few minutes, holding up a minatory finger when it looked as if Harm was about to say something more. She had nothing against the name, it sounded well with Elizabeth, she hadn't been able to come up with a satisfactory middle name by herself, and… his mom had been great when they'd spoken on the 'phone, well once she'd gotten over her shock, and it would make him 'very happy' too.

"Yeah, I think I like it too, she said slowly, nodding her head for emphasis, "Yes! I do like it. Elizabeth Patricia Rabb, she shall be!"

They had relapsed into silence once more. Harm hadn't said thank you; he hadn't need to. The look in his eyes said it all for him. Catherine relaxed against his shoulder again, content that she'd pleased him so much with her decision. At length though she sighed, "If I'm not going to stay the night, Harm, I guess it's time I went home…"

"Yeah, I guess…" He disengaged his arm from where it was draped very comfortably, and protectively around her shoulder and got to his feet ready to help her out of the depths of the couch. Once she was safely upright, Harm helped her into her jacket, and making sure the apartment was secure they gave each other a lopsided wry grin as he pressed the elevator 'Call' button and waited until it groaned its way from the ground floor.

Twenty minutes later, he switched off the ignition and helped her down from the SUV, before collecting her gear from the SUV's trunk and walking her up to her apartment, where they shared one last goodnight kiss, before she stepped back into her living room, Harm waiting until he heard the deadbolt snick into place before he headed for home and bed.

x-x-x-x-x

Catherine smiled as she heard his footsteps fade down the hallway and sighed happily. Today had been a great day, but she was tired, it had on some levels been quite an emotional day. She was beginning to learn Harmon Rabb, and to interpret his feelings from his eyes. How come Sarah MacKenzie, for all she was supposed to have been in love with him for all those years, had failed to figure that out? She shook her head in bewilderment as turned on the radio and headed for the bathroom. She had her sweater half off, over her head when the song on the radio changed, and the gentle voice of Alison Krauss filled the apartment. Catherine felt sudden tears prick her eyes as the absolute appropriateness of the lyrics to her thoughts came to her ears.

_The smile on your face lets me know that you need me  
>There's a truth in your eyes sayin' you'll never leave me<br>The touch of your hand says you'll catch me if ever I fall  
>You say it best when you say nothing at all<br>You say it best, when you say nothing at all_

x-x-x-x-x

A J Chegwidden barely acknowledged the cry of "Admiral on deck!" as he entered the bull pen at just shy of oh seven forty hours, laving, uncharacteristically of him, his staff frozen in the attention position until he disappeared into the fastness of his own office, barely even acknowledging the ritual, "Good morning, Admiral" from his yeoman.

He had only just taken his seat at his desk when a rap on the doorjamb announced the presence of Legalman Two Coates, bearing her chief's first mug of coffee, his calendar for the day and the first sheaf of the morning's messages.

Chegwidden held his hand out for the calendar, indicating that Coates should just place the handful of notes in his in-tray. He looked up at the Yeoman over the top of his reading glasses, and said, "Clear the calendar for this morning. All meetings postponed until further notice, and as soon as it's oh eight hundred, get on the 'phone to the SecNav's office, I need to see him this morning. And pass the word, Staff Call is brought forward to oh eight thirty hours."

"Aye, aye, sir. Postpone all meetings indefinitely; call the SecNav's Office and set up an appointment for this morning, and staff call at oh eight thirty hours, sir."

"Good, make it so!" and then as the Yeoman lingered, he raised his eyebrows, "Was there something else, Coates?"

"Yes, sir; Colonel MacKenzie has asked to see you as soon as convenient," Coates tried to judge the Admiral's mood. He had barely spoken to her since he stormed out of the office last week, completely ignoring her on his late return from wherever he had been, "In fact, sir, the Colonel said she needed to see you as soon as your six… uh… as soon as you got in sir."

Chegwidden gave his Yeoman a wintry smile, he and his Petty Officer had played this game too many times for the admiral not to have recognised that his gruffness and Mac's imperatives had once again placed Coates between a rock and a hard place.

"OK Coates, pass the word for the Colonel…" and then as a thought struck him, "Uh… she has had a coffee this morning, hasn't she?"

"Oh, yes, sir. I wouldn't pass the word until I was sure she had."

"Very well, Coates, dismissed!"

"Aye, aye, sir!"

A bare couple of minutes passed before a sharp rap at the door announced the arrival of Colonel MacKenzie, who in response to his command to enter, marched up to the Admiral's desk and halted at attention.

Chegwidden looked over the top of his reading glasses at her, before removing them and pinching the bridge of his nose. She had on her most stubborn kick-ass jarhead expression, and he just knew that whatever she had in that file folder under her arm was not going to make him the happiest man alive. Still with any luck it wasn't something that needed his immediate attention, and if that was the case, he might even get away without having to deal with it at all.

"Alright Colonel, at ease, take a seat."

"I'd prefer to stand, sir!" Chegwidden winced. He was right, this was not going to be one of their better shared moments, and he certainly wasn't going to make it any better by allowing a junior officer to stand in a dominating position while he remained seated.

"I said, sit down, Colonel!"

Mac glared at him mutinously, he had just cut half of the high ground out from under her, but she was left with only one possible response, "Aye, aye, sir!"

Chegwidden waited until the marine had seated herself, but rather than sitting back in the chair as she would normally have done, she was perched, bolt upright on the very edge of the seat. Another bad sign, he thought to himself.

"OK, Colonel, what have you got for me?"

"This, and this, sir!" She passed him the file folder and a slim white envelope, not too dissimilar from the one he had tucked in his inside breast pocket.

"What is it Colonel?"

Mac was not without her own sense of the dramatic, she paused for a few moments, "The file folder, sir, contains requests for re-assignment from twenty-three of the HQ enlisted. The envelope contains my resignation letter, sir"

Chegwidden nodded silently, Mac's resignation wasn't a total surprise, she had more or less hinted last week that it was on its way, and if he was being brutally honest with himself, requests for re-assignment from the HQ enlisted weren't too surprising either. The whole HQ had been unsettled since the Singer case, and Rabb's resignation seemed to have a lit a spark to a powder train. That spark was now fast approaching the magazine. He opened the file folder and quickly scanned through the folios inside it, each one of them cited a variation on the same theme in the Reason For Request box, 'lack of trust in the Command', all a slap in his face. And all counter signed, as was proper, by his Chief of Staff.

"Am I to take it that your letter of resignation is submitted on much the same grounds?"

"Yes, sir!"

He nodded. "I will submit your resignation to the SecNav, Colonel, but I'm not sure he'll accept it. As you know, JAG is short handed now…"

"And whose fault is that, sir?" The words were out of Mac's mouth before she realised she had spoken, and hearing her words, she reacted much as Coates had, she went white and her eyes opened wider in anticipation of his anger.

Chegwidden sighed, he had he supposed asked for that, and at this stage of the game, there was little profit to be gained from filing charges, but a reprimand was certainly in order. "Colonel, that was more than just borderline insubordination. Let that be the last time!"

A relieved Mac could only reply, "Yes, sir! Sorry, sir!" as she gradually recovered her colour, and realised her lucky escape.

"It may also interest you to know Colonel, that I tried to take steps last week to take up some of the slack here at HQ. I invited Mr Rabb to apply to the SecNav, with my support, to have his commission reinstated, and for him to return to JAG." Mac's face lit up, but Chegwidden hadn't finished, "Mr Rabb declined my invitation… uh… rather forcefully. He said that he no longer trusted me or respected me, and that he would never agree to serve again under my command."

Mac nodded in acknowledgement, despite the current slump in their friendship and even though she had silently prayed that Harm would somehow be re-instated at JAG, she had known in her heart of hearts that the old man sitting opposite her had so thoroughly humiliated the former Commander that he would never return. Harmon Rabb had too much pride, too much integrity ever again to take the orders of A J Chegwidden.

"Are you surprised at his refusal, sir?"

Chegwidden grimaced, "Frankly, Colonel I was, and I am. I thought that Mr Rabb would jump at the chance to get back into uniform."

"Why would he do that, sir? With respect, if you recall the way he was treated - oh not just by you , sir - by everybody when he returned from his flying tour, what possible incentive could he have for subjecting himself to that sort of treatment again? And none of us shone in the way we treated him over the Singer case."

Chegwidden winced. At the time it hadn't seemed to harsh to insist that Rabb started at the bottom of the pecking order, but in hindsight, it had been unnecessary and now had the appearance of being vindictive. As for the Singer mess, well, he was still beating himself up over it. He was well aware that Mac had made a visit to the brig only to be turned away by the guards, and that he had refused Coates permission to visit, and even had her letter to Rabb intercepted and returned marked 'refused by addressee', and he had ended her tearful protests by threatening to bring her up on charges if she persisted.

All in all, this last spring and summer had not been A J Chegwidden's finest. Mac seemed to be on the verge of speaking again, and given the tenor of this conversation thus far Chegwidden was dreading that she might ask the one question to which he had no real answer. In an effort to forestall that he snapped, "That will be all Colonel. Dismissed!"

Mac came to her feet and stood at attention. "Aye, aye, sir!" She waited the regulation pause of two seconds and then about faced and left the suddenly tired older man at his desk.

Chegwidden waited a few minutes; his face buried in his hands, before he pressed the intercom button and said "Coates?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Anything from the SecNav's office yet?"

"Yes, sir, I'm on the external line with them right now, sir."

Two minutes later, a knock on the door indicated the arrival of Legalman Two Coates. "Sir," she began, still somewhat nervously, "The SecNav will see you at ten thirty hours, sir."

"Thank you, Coates." He paused looking at the obviously tense young woman standing rigidly in front of his desk. "Sit down, Jennifer," he began

"Sir?" She stared at him open-mouthed.

"Sit down, please."

Coates sat, a cold feeling growing in her stomach.

"Jennifer, you came very, very close to being thrown in the brig last week. You realise that don't you?"

Coates licked her suddenly dry lips, and had to swallow before she could answer "Ye… yes, sir. And I am truly sorry, sir, it won't happen…"

"Again… Yes I know." His eyes twinkled briefly and just for a second Coates saw the man who had welcomed her to JAG last Christmas Eve.

"Don't ever pull a stunt like that again, not with me, and certainly not with any other senior officers. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Good. Jennifer I am not displeased with your work. You are efficient, willing and cheerful and generally it is pleasant to have you around. You have some excellent personal qualities, not the least of which is loyalty to those whom you consider friends. Please do not let that loyalty lead you into unnecessary confrontations. There comes a time when you have to cover your own six."

"Yes, sir!"

"Very well, then, we'll say no more of the incident. Dismissed!"

Coates, as Mac had done rose to her feet, "Aye, aye, sir!" and left the Admiral sitting in the Big Chair.

x-x-x-x-x

The newly promoted Commander Tracy Manetti opened the door to the Secretary of the Navy's plush office, totally reconstructed since the original had been so badly damaged on September 11, "Secretary Sheffield will see you now, sir."

"Thank you, Commander," Chegwidden acknowledged brusquely as he passed through the door into the Secretary's office. He still had mixed feelings about Manetti, true, she had been highly instrumental in having Lindsey's report thrown out as a hatchet job, but he had disliked her from the start, and it was due entirely to the knowledge that she was the SecNav's God-Daughter and that she had very probably been placed in JAG to act as his spy.

Edward Sheffield stood as Chegwidden entered the office, walking around his desk and offering his hand, "Good to see you A J" and oozing false bonhomie. Apparently your Yeoman said this was urgent, what can I do for you today? Sit down, man, sit down."

Chegwidden sat in one of the indicated chairs. "Mr Secretary, I am here today to hand you this…" Chegwidden put his hand into his inside pocket and produced the envelope marked with the SecNav's name and title.

Sheffield took the letter with a suspicious frown on his face, "What's all this A J?"

"That, Mr Secretary, is my letter of resignation."

"Resignation?" Sheffield sat back and steepled his fingers.

"Yes, Mr Secretary. I've been dropping the ball badly this last nine months or so, to the extent that I have lost one senior attorney…"

"Rabb?"

"Yes, sir. Another senior attorney tendered her resignation to me this morning, and no less than twenty three junior support and clerical staff have applied for re-assignment, as has my Administrative NCO, Gunnery Sergeant Galindez."

"And?" Sheffield pushed.

"They all give the same reason for resignation and requesting new billets." He smiled bitterly, "They all state, in writing, that they no longer trust the Command - in other words, me." Chegwidden drew a breath, "I attempted on Friday to make good at least one of my mistakes, and I went to see Rabb. I invited him to request that you reinstate his commission with a view to his returning to JAG. He turned me down in no uncertain terms, saying that he no longer trusted me nor respected me, and would never again agree to serve under my command. When comparatively junior officers, even former officers say that to my face - and he said much more - it is obvious that I can no longer command. Mr Secretary, I've served more than thirty years, you have to let me go."

"Are you sure of this AJ?"

"Yes, sir. I am sure. For the good of the service."

"Very well. Have you decided when you wish to go?"

"As soon as possible would be best Mr Secretary, the end of the month if it could be managed."

"Who would be acting JAG until the new is appointed?"

"I've only got two possible contenders in Falls Church, Commander Turner, or Lieutenant Colonel MacKenzie. Of the two, it would have to be Turner, and he's not ideal - too hidebound, and he has a personal grudge against another officer. MacKenzie is the other senior attorney who tendered her resignation to me this morning."

Sheffield sighed, "Under those circumstances, A J, I don't see how I can let you go…"

"With all due respect Mr Secretary, you can't refuse to let me go." Chegwidden grinned mirthlessly, "But you can refuse to let MacKenzie go, and if she stays, then she is the logical choice for JAG _pro-tem_."

"H'mm, you may have dropped the ball a few times, A J, but you're still a cunning old fox. Alright, I'll process this letter of yours. But, I'll let you break the glad news to Colonel MacKenzie."

"Sir, I'm sure that when Colonel MacKenzie hears that I'm the one resigning, she'll be only too glad to stay!"

Secretary Sheffield watched the ex-Seal leave his office, and shook his head in amazement. He would never understand the military mind, no matter how long he was exposed to it. If it had been him in Chegwidden's place he would have accepted MacKenzie's resignation and toughed it out. Resigning for the 'good of the service' such self-righteous, pompous horse-pucky! But Chegwidden had given him an idea…

He waited a few moments in case the old Admiral was hanging around in Manetti's outer officer, before he picked up the phone and called her. "Commander, can you come in please?"

Sheffield watched Tracy Manetti as she walked across the carpet towards where he was sat at his desk. "Sir?" she enquired.

"Two questions, Tracy. One, do you know where ex-Commander Rabb lives? And can you get hold of him? Two, how would you like to go back to JAG - not on TAD but for a full rotation?"

"I do know where Mr Rabb lives, and I believe I can get hold of him, sir. As for going back to JAG, that would depend, sir."

"On?"

"On whether I went back as an attorney, or whether it was to just act as your agent _en place_."

"One of the reasons I pulled you out of JAG is that Admiral Chegwidden did not like you there. He suspected you were acting as my spy."

"Which I was, sir, and it was not a role I enjoyed."

"Well, his dislike of you, or your role, is no longer a factor in your future assignments. Admiral Chegwidden resigned today. So, I have a little bit of juggling to do, before I can decide who goes where to do what, and then I will have to kick my proposals upstairs. In the meantime, get hold of Rabb for me and arrange a meeting between him and myself, and think over whether or not you would like to return to JAG."

"Yes, sir"

x-x-x-x-x

Chegwidden growled, "As you were, as you were!" almost before the cry of "Admiral on Deck" had sounded, and passing through his Yeoman's cubby-hole smiled and said, "Two coffees please, Jennifer, one for me, one for the Colonel, and pass the word for the Colonel to report to me ASAP!"

As Chegwidden waited for his replacement pro-tem, he mulled over what had passed during his interview with the SecNav. He had the nagging feeling that not only had the SecNav not been surprised at his resignation, but that he'd rather expected it, and worse, had almost seemed to welcome it. A sharp tap on his doorjamb broke his introspection and looking up he saw that Mac was holding the door open for Coates as the latter bore a tray with two mugs of coffee on it.

"Thank you, Coates; that will be all. Come on in Mac… no, I know you're reporting as ordered, so don't bother. Take a seat."

Mac sat regarding the newly affable senior officer warily.

Chegwidden grinned, which worried her even more, but he was grinning at the transparency of her thoughts. He leaned back in his chair and delving once more into his inside pocket, he drew out her letter of resignation and proffered it to her. "I'm pleased to tell you, Colonel that the SecNav has seen fit not to accept your resignation at this time."

"But Admiral…"

"Kindly allow me to finish, Colonel…" he paused waiting to see if she dared interrupt him again, "But he has seen fit to accept my resignation. So you see Colonel, with me gone, and according to your stated reasons for wishing to resign your commission, you no longer have any reason to destroy your career. And until further notice, that is until a new JAG is appointed, you will be the acting JAG!"


	9. Chapter 9

**9**

A little before A J Chegwidden had made his first appearance in the JAG HQ bull-pen that morning, Harmon Rabb parked his Lexus alongside Grace Aviation's still-closed-for-the-night-Hangar and waited for his boss to come and open up for the day, or more accurately wait for his boss' father. Part of him was as keen as Catherine to get to the bottom of the mystery, and if Mattie did need help, then it would take more than a team of wild horses to stop him from offering that help, but another, unworthy, part of him wished that Catherine hadn't been quite so keen. That way he could at least have had another hour in a warm bed, instead of shivering in the car until the engine had warmed up enough to blow heated air into the cab!

It seemed an age, although it couldn't have been much more than half-an-hour before the slim figure of Mattie, well wrapped up against the morning chill, jumped out of her battered pick-up truck and unlocked the side door to the hangar. Rabb nodded to himself and waited.

Over the next ten to fifteen minutes he watched as the other two Ag-Cat pilots and the three mechanics arrived in ones and twos. He continued watching as the hangar main doors rolled open and the three Ag-cats were wheeled out onto the apron and Frank, well he thought it was Frank, disappeared to return shortly with a bowser and each Ag-Cat had its spray reservoir filled.

Mattie emerged from the hangar and appeared to be giving instruction to the other two pilots and as each of them climbed into their planes, she turned back towards the hangar and then stopped as she caught sight of the Lexus, obviously only belatedly recognising it as the vehicle Harm had used yesterday.

Seeing that he'd been spotted, Harm climbed out of the vehicle and stuck his thumbs in his jeans pockets as he sauntered towards the hangar.

Mattie squinted at him, shading her eyes with a hand, "You're pretty early," she observed.

Harm grinned a greeting, "Yeah, well, I thought I'd get a jump on the traffic," he replied as he followed her through the hangar into her office.

"I wasn't sure you'd be coming back. I figured you'd gone back to the navy, gone back to work for that mean old man."

"That's not going to happen Mattie, I told you that yesterday. That mean old man and I had a huge fight, and I told him I couldn't work with him anymore."

"Uh-huh. But that's what you really want, isn't it? To go back to the navy?"

"Well, yeah, sure. I've been navy since I was just a little older than you are now. But I've had to make up my mind, that's just not going to happen." Caught out by the sudden bitterness in his voice, Mattie turned away from the paperwork she had been using as an excuse for not looking him in the eye. With a flash of perception she saw the reality behind his façade, the smiles he used to hide his pain at losing a career he loved.

There was an uncomfortable silence for a few moments as Harm fought down his anger and bitterness while Mattie felt somehow embarrassed at uncovering such strong emotions in someone she was coming to like and respect, and yes… even trust.

Harm coughed and deliberately changed the subject as he sought confirmation of what he had come to suspect as he'd watched the other employees of Grace Aviation arrive to start work for the day, "Mattie, how come I've never met your dad?"

Mattie was silent for a long moment, and then turning her back on him again she said in a low voice, "He was driving the car when it got into the accident that killed my mom." Mattie took a breath and turned a devastated face to Harm. "He was drunk, and after the accident he just kept right on drinking." She shrugged and made a loose, dismissive gesture with one hand.

Harm perched on the edge of the table under the office window and asked, "Where is he?"

"Don't know, don't care!" Mattie replied defiantly as she turned from the desk to the filing cabinet, "I don't even use his name. Grace was my mother's maiden name."

Harm frowned, "Well, where do you live?"

"In my mother's old house."

Harm stood, his face now a mask of concern, as he fiddled with his aviators' sunglasses, "Well, what about relatives? There must be someone you can go to?"

"Only his family, just like dad, passed out drunk on a couch."

"What are you doing for money?"

Mattie bit her lip before answering, this was one question where she'd have to shade the truth, "I've got Grace Aviation… It pays the bills."

Harm cast a quick glance over the desk top, even from where he was standing he could see the envelopes marked 'Past Due', but for the moment he decided he'd let Mattie slide on that.

"Well, what happens when your dad comes back?"

"He's not coming back," Mattie sneered, "Not after what he did. Besides, I don't let him in the house." Mattie threw back over her shoulder as she stalked out of the office into the hangar.

"It's his house," Harm protested as he followed.

"It's mine!" Mattie climbed into one of the airplanes in the hangar and stuck her head into the cockpit, emerging with an air of satisfaction with a set of headphones, "My mom left me the house and the airplanes in her will."

Harm paced slowly across the hangar towards her, "What happens when they find out, Mattie? I mean Child Protective Services, the FAA. Because they will."

"Are you going to tell?"

"No, I'm not going to tell," Harm denied, no longer able to keep the concern from his voice. "What I, what we, Catherine and I, will do, is try and help you. Mattie, you're in a hole, your desk is covered with bills marked 'Past Due', there is no way that you are certified with the FAA to run an aviation business. And, you should be at school!"

"I don't need school!" Mattie asserted as she jumped down from the plane and stalked out on to the apron, "I know everything I need to know!"

"Oh, I doubt that," Harm grinned at her as he followed her out into the daylight, "For a start, you don't know how to fly a plane!"

Mattie looked up at him, her heart suddenly in her eyes, as she sought to interpret his meaning "You mean… you mean… you'd_ teach _me!"

"Damn, straight!" he grinned back at her, "and hey, there's no time like the present!"

Mattie's grin threatened to split her face in half, then her smile vanished as her face clouded, "Yeah, but you got sixty acres to spray this morning!"

"Hey, I knew there was a reason I got here early today! I get this show on the road, and while I'm doing that, have one of your guys juice up Sarah for me, and then I'll take you up after lunch!"

x-x-x-x-x

Mac gawped at the Admiral, "_Me_?" she just about managed to squeak out, and then went crimson as she realised how badly her voice had betrayed her. She swallowed twice and then cautiously tried her voice again, "You've appointed _me_ Acting JAG, sir?"

A J sat back in the big chair and looked across the desk, "Well, strictly speaking," he told her as he rested his hands on the arms of the chair, "it was the SecNav who appointed you, but yes, it was on my recommendation."

It was only then that the import of the first part of his announcement crashed into her awareness, "And you've resigned? Sir."

"Yes, Colonel, as you, Mr Rabb, Gunny Galindez and two dozen of the enlisted personnel of this section have been at pains to point out, I am no longer trusted or respected. Mac, would you, could stay under those circumstances?"

Mac thought for a few moments, but realistically and on an instinctive level she knew the Admiral was right, "No," she sighed, "Without the confidence of those under you command, you can't continue to lead. I couldn't either. But, sir, believe me, although I'm mad at you, I am sorry to see you go under these circumstances."

Chegwidden leaned forward, his elbows on the desk and his hands clasped in front of him. "Mac, I really screwed the pooch this past nine months. I dropped the ball on so many occasions. There was Lindsey's hatchet job, the Singer mess, the whole Webb-you-Rabb screw-up, and now the Imes debacle… Mac, I've lost my grip… it's time for me to go."

"What will you do, Admiral?"

"H'mph… I haven't really made up my mind yet. This is all very sudden, you'll understand," his face split in a brief rueful grin. "Maybe I'll head out to Italy, spend some time with Francesca… Might even try and make contact with Marcella… I honestly don't know yet." He gave himself a mental shake.

"Back to business, Colonel. We can't let there be any further uncertainty, morale around here is bad enough as it is. Let's have all hands from Ops in the Conference room at twelve thirty hours, I'll brief everyone then as to what's happening. In the meantime, I'm afraid you are going to be one busy marine, until we get some new blood on board. The SecNav assures me that will happen, and I'll make a signal to all JAG designator marine monitors and navy detailers asking for a trawl for suitably qualified - and senior - attorneys. But until then, you'll still have your own case-load, plus the Imes reviews and having to read yourself into this job. Frankly Colonel, I don't envy you the next couple of months."

Mac regarded him silently, 'Actually' she thought, 'it might not be so bad to be kept busy, it might stop me brooding too much…'

Her thoughts were interrupted, "Colonel?"

Belatedly she realised that the Admiral must have been speaking to her, "I'm sorry sir, I was just trying to figure out how to fit twenty-six hours into every twenty-four!"

x-x-x-x-x

Tracy Manetti sighed in exasperation. That was the fourth time this morning that she'd tried Rabb's home 'phone number, and each time all she'd got was the damned answering machine. She'd even been on the point of calling his last known cell 'phone number, but then realised that the 'phone had to have been issued to him by the 'Other Government Agency' for whom he'd been working.

She thought for a few minutes as she tried to recall who at Falls Church had been on good terms with him. The obvious answer of course was Colonel MacKenzie, but Tracy had read the de-brief reports from that last unbelievably screwed up mission in Paraguay and she'd got the feeling, from reading between the lines that enquiries as to Rabb's whereabouts addressed to that particular source would be very unproductive. But… when they were working together, hadn't he mentioned that he was the Godfather to another officer's son… yes! Bud Roberts!

Picking up her 'phone again she called the JAG switchboard and when answered asked to be connected to Lieutenant Roberts' extension. The 'phone on the other end rang, and rang again, and again. After listening to eight ring tones, Tracy sighed and replaced her own 'phone's handset back its cradle. Not being able to reach an officer to whom she wanted to speak was an unusual experience for Tracy Manetti her caller ID was programmed to show that her calls came from the SecNav's office, and any naval officer who wanted to continue his career was extremely unlikely to ignore calls, let alone repeated calls emanating from that office. Of course, she mused, Rabb wasn't any officer any more, was he? Or, given the SecNav's interest, was he?

In the meantime she needed to speak with the SecNav herself. If the offer he made to her about returning to JAG meant that she'd be going back as an attorney, then hell, yes. She was an attorney, after all, and while working at the Pentagon looked well on her résumé and had a certain cachet as well as some less obvious benefits, it wasn't what she had sweated through seven years of college and law school to do!

x-x-x-x-x

Harm finished his spraying for the day and headed back to the field and having landed taxied back to the hangar and handed the Ag-Cat over to Eddy who was Grace Aviation's nearest approximation to a crew chief. Walking into the hanger, he stuck his head into the office and seeing Mattie working at her desk, he called out, "Hey, boss-lady." And waited for her to turn her attention to him. Seeing her grin at him somehow made his whole day feel brighter.

"I'm just going to grab a sandwich, and then I gotta make a couple of quick calls, and then I'll be ready to take you up… say… half an hour?"

"Damn straight!" the happily excited teenager responded with a huge smile.

Harm could do nothing other than smile back; there was something infectious in that wide grin. "I'll be as quick as I can," he promised over his shoulder as he headed for his SUV, his lunch and his cell 'phone.

Settling himself back into his seat, he pulled out his pack of sandwiches and thermos of iced tea, and then unlocking his cell 'phone, he dialed Catherine's number.

"Hi Catherine?"

"_Harm? Why are you calling, is there something wrong?"_

"No, no, nothing's wrong… well, that's not quite true. No, don't panic I'm fine. It's Mattie…"

"_Is she hurt, or…?"_ There was an edge of apprehension to her voice.

"No… nothing like that. But her situation is even worse than we thought," Harm said as placidly as he could.

Catherine drew a deep breath, and made an effort to calm herself down. _"OK, now you've done scaring me, what's wrong?"_

"Well, you know I told you that her mom was dead?"

"_Yes…"_

"And that her dad was flying for the company…"

"_Yes…"_

"Well, that's not quite true."

"_In what way?"_

"Well, her mom is dead. Her dad was driving the car when the accident happened; apparently he was drunk at the time."

"_Oh God…"_

"Yeah, well, he's not in the picture any more, and Mattie is living alone, and trying to run the company all by herself…"

"_Harm! Are you pulling some sort of joke here? Because if you are, that's not funny!"_

"I was never more serious in my life. Which brings me on to my next point. How far are you willing to get involved with this girl's life?"

"_In what way?"_ Catherine asked cautiously.

"Catherine, when the FAA find out that Grace Aviation is being run by a fourteen year old, without any of the necessary FAA licences in her name, they are going to pull the plug on the company just as fast as they can. Then CPS will get involved and Mattie will just get swallowed up by the system. Catherine, Mattie's too bright, too lively, too energetic for that, she'll go crazy in some foster home that only takes kids in for the sake of the social security check."

Catherine half smiled and half groaned at the other end of the line, _"Oh, God, it's the damn'_ Angelshark_ all over again!"_

"Huh? What do you mean by that?"

"_You're off on another one of you damn' crusades again. Aren't you?"_

"And what's wrong with that, Harm demanded, "The crusades had a worthy objective!" he finished defensively.

"_Yes, they did,"_ Catherine replied with a snap in her voice, _"but lousy methodology! So, what's your idea? You want to become more involved?"_

"I don't see that we have any choice here, Catherine. We can't be half in and half out. It's all or nothing in this case."

"_Go on counselor, I'm listening."_

"Well, look, I know it's lousy timing with Elizabeth on her way, but the thought came to me that I ought to apply for legal guardianship of Mattie."

"_That's not going to happen, sailor!"_

Harm was shocked into silence, he'd been expecting to meet with some resistance from Catherine, after all she was well on her way to having a baby, but he thought he knew her well enough to predict that she would have some sympathy for Mattie's plight. Even if she hadn't already confessed to being taken with the teenager, he hadn't expected a flat refusal. "Oh, well… You'd best call the FAA and CPS then, because I promised Mattie that I wouldn't," he said a mixture of disappointment and displeasure in his voice.

Catherine was taken aback by the depth of emotion in his voice, and moderated her own tone,_"That's not going to happen either, Harm. We are starting a family together, right? Well, being a family means that we make decisions and do things together. So, _you_ aren't going to file for Mattie's legal guardianship, _we _are."_

There was a long silence on the 'phone. Catherine waited for some sort of response, and when it didn't come she asked in a concerned voice, _"Harm? Are you there?"_

"Thank you, Catherine," he said simply. It seemed to Catherine that Harm's voice was clogged, a suspicion that was confirmed when she heard him clear his throat.

"Listen," he continued, "I know it's a bit late in the day to start altering arrangements, but do you think you can get down here this evening. I just have this feeling that time is running out for this little girl, and it's running out fast."

Catherine smiled resignedly, _"You're right, it is a bit late in the day, but yes, I'll be there." _She thought for a moment,_ "It's about a hundred miles, isn't it? So give me say two and a half hours. I'll close up early, so I'll be with you by say… half past six? Is that OK?"_

"Yeah… but only if you're sure you'll be alright?"

"_I'll be fine, Harm. See you around six-thirty, OK?"_

"Yeah… and… Thanks, Catherine."

Harm sighed and gritted his teeth. Fumbling in his shirt pocket, he found the business card which the realtor had given him. Dialling the number he waited for the phone in Arlington to be picked up.

"_Graves Realtors, Stephanie speaking, how may I be of assistance?"_

Good afternoon, I'd like to speak to Martin Graves, please. My name is Rabb."

"_One moment please Mr Rabb…"_

"_Martin Graves, Mr Rabb, how may I help you?"_

"Mr Graves, you showed us around some houses on Saturday, if you recall?"

"_Yes, of course…?"_

"Well, having discussed the various properties with my partner, we'd like to make an offer on 1127 Woodford Road, Vienna."

"_I see, and how near the asking price are you offering?"_

"Less fifty K"

"_Very well, Mr Rabb. I'll put that to our client, and I'll get back to you by this time tomorrow."_

"Great. I'll be on my cell 'phone, do you have the number?"

"_One moment, Mr Rabb… Is that the 'phone you're using now?"_

"Yes."

"_Yes, Mr Rabb, we have a record of it. I'll speak with you again tomorrow."_

"I'll be looking forward to you call, goodbye, Mr Graves."

Putting away his cell 'phone, Harm finished his lunch and locking the SUV again, he walked back to hangar, to find Mattie bundled up in about three layers of sweaters and a windproof jacket. Harm smiled and walked a small circle around her, "I presume you're ready, then Miss Grace?"

"You bet your sweet…"

"Six!" he interrupted her sternly, but trying to keep a straight face. "If you're going to fly," he told her, "you need to know pilot speak. Your butt is your six, and that young lady is the only acceptable, non-medical term. Got it?"

"Yeah… got it… but why 'six'…"

"It's an easy way to indicate direction. Twelve o'clock is dead ahead, six is dead astern, and three and nine are to the right and left respectively. You just have to imagine yourself sitting in the middle of a giant clock face. Simple."

"Uh… OK… if you say so," Mattie muttered, but to Harm's ears it didn't seem that she was that convinced.

"OK, now that's settled, let's get you settled in the cockpit…"

Ten minutes later the vintage yellow biplane climbed into the sky. Harm grinning as he heard Mattie's laugh of delight through his headphones. Harm took the Stearman through some fairly gentle, basic manoeuvres to see how Mattie responded to the sensation, and then when he was satisfied that she showed no signs of air sickness he became a little more ambitious, going through a stately barrel roll, a series of vertical banks and then a power dive, and pulling up converted speed to height as he pulled the airplane up over on to its back and completed a loop. With each manoeuvre he heard Mattie's crows of delight from the front seat, and, her laughter was so infectious that it was more than a few minutes before he realised that his own face was also split by a grin.

As he pulled out of the loop and settled the Stearman back into straight and level flight, he said into his mic, "Hey, do want to take her?"

"Really? You bet!"

Harm felt the sudden resistance on the stick as Mattie took hold of it, and released his own grip, but kept his hand hovering above the stick as he talked her through a sequence of gentle turns, banks, dives and climbs.

x-x-x-x-x

The room remained silent as Chegwidden stood and turned towards the door, amazement keeping those seated in their chairs until a crisp "Ten-hut!" from Mac jolted them to their feet in a show military courtesy. Mac kept the room at attention for a good thirty seconds after Chegwidden had left the room before she spoke again.

"In light of what we have just heard, and in my capacity as Acting JAG elect, I have decided that those of you - and you know who you are - who recently applied for re-assignment will not have their requests actioned, or the fact that they have requested re-assignment entered on the SRBs. Unless, those individuals still wish to be re-assigned, in which case they should take the opportunity to speak to me ASAP, at any rate before secure on Friday. That will be all; dismissed."

x-x-x-x-x

Mattie was out of the cockpit almost before the airscrew had stopped spinning, her eyes sparkled and her face was flushed, whether from excitement or the chill of the air blasting past her face Harm wasn't prepared to guess, and her grin was, if possible wider than the one she'd exhibited when he'd first proposed taking her up. Harm was prepared for an outburst of excited chatter, but the teenager surprised him. She looked up at him and as the grin faded from her face it was replaced by an expression of… and try as he might, Harm could only come up with one word - awe.

"That was the most brilliant thing that's ever happened to me in all my life," she stated soberly. "Thank you, Harm. Thank you."

Harm grinned, although he felt the flush of embarrassment mount in his cheeks, "Well, it was pretty good for me too, squirt. Oh, it always is when I fly… but… you made it pretty special for me today. So thank you too! And I'm glad that you're happy with me for the moment, 'cause I don't think that's going to last long."

Mattie looked up at him again. After this afternoon's experience she couldn't imagine a time when she'd be unhappy with this total stranger who had walked casually into her life just a few days ago, and yet in some mysterious manner had got so far under her skin, that she'd opened up and told him more about herself than she'd said to anyone since her mom had died.

"Wow, that sounds serious. Do we need to talk? Do I need to fire you?"

"Well, yes to the first, and I hope not to the second. I still need the job," he grinned, "But why don't we find somewhere where we can sit and talk - the office maybe?"

Mattie sent him a suspicious glare but allowed Harm to place his hand on the small of her back and guide her back to her own office. Slumping into her chair, she laced her fingers across her stomach, swiveled around to face him and said, "OK, then, give."

Harm pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers, as he pondered the best way of proceeding. He leaned back so that he was perched on the edge of the table, just as he had been earlier, and resting his hands on the surface he started, "Uh… yesterday, Catherine - who's a pretty smart cookie - picked up a vibe that there was something a little… hinky… about your set-up here. And on the way home she pretty much gave me the third degree, about you, and what I knew about you." Harm shrugged and tried to keep his expression as neutral as he could, well aware that he was threading a path through a minefield.

"Well, when we got home, she did some research on the internet. She looked up Grace Aviation and Crop Dusting, and what she found and explained to me didn't make us, either of us, very happy."

Mattie crimsoned, and crossed her arms in front of her chest, "So, you went spying on me!" she accused him.

"No, Mattie, not spying, all Catherine did was a basic search, but she came up with quite a bit of stuff. We know for example that both the power company and the county are filing claims against you for unpaid bills and taxes."

"Yeah," the teenager muttered, "but that's just a temporary thing, when the folk that owe me money pay up, we'll be fine again."

"And if they don't pay up, Mattie?"

"They got to pay up. They owe me!" she insisted.

"Uh-huh, so do they say why they haven't paid you yet?"

"Yeah, they want to talk to my dad first!"

"But if they're not paying you Mattie, then what you told me this morning isn't really the truth, is it?"

"Why isn't it?" she demanded defensively.

"You told me this morning, when I asked what you were doing for money, that Grace Aviation was earning enough to pay the bills." He looked at her gravely, concern written plainly in his face, "It's not is it Mattie?"

"Well, I'm doing what I can to save on bills, and that's helping too…"

Harm squatted down in front of the fretful teenager and despite her initial resistance, he took both her hands in his, "Mattie, you can't go on like this, you shouldn't be working and worrying about paying bills. You should be at school, making friends, thinking about going to college. And it's going to get worse, your mom's house is listed as being a company asset, so if you lose Grace Aviation, you'll lose your home too."

Mattie went white, "I… I can't lose my home… that's mom's house, this is mom's business… that's why it's Grace Aviation and not under _his_ name! Harm… this is all I've got left of her…" her eyes brimmed with tears and one solitary teardrop ran down her face. Harm reached up and cupped her face in his hand, using his thumb to brush the tear away.

For a second, Mattie leaned into the hand, but then scooted her chair backwards until it rammed the desk and then she leapt to her feet and turned her back on Harm, muttering an angry "Dammit!" and rummaged in her jeans pocket, finally produced a very much crumpled and ragged ball of Kleenex with which she wiped her eyes and blew her nose before discarding it into the trash.

Harm waited a few seconds to give the teenager a chance to compose herself and then placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"What?" she demanded aggressively.

"Catherine and I don't want to see you lose your company or your house. We'd like to help you keep them. Will you let us? Let us help you?"

"Why?" Mattie sounded slightly less aggressive, "why would you want to help me?"

"Well… first off, like I said, you shouldn't have to be trying to do this just yet, not all on your own. Secondly because I kinda like working here. I like my boss, and I need the job. If there's no Grace Aviation, then I don't have a job, and there's not too many opening around here for a washed up navy flier. Besides, where would I keep Sarah? Thirdly, and maybe most importantly, you've got something here, and it's worth keeping it going…" Harm paused and then played what he hoped was his trump card, "for your mom's sake, if nothing else."

Mattie stiffened as Harm mentioned her mother, he could feel the tension under his hand, and then after a further deep breath, she shrugged off his hand and turned to face him. "If I say OK, and let you help me. How would you do it?"

Harm relaxed as he sensed that Mattie had decided, warily maybe, but decided all the same to see what sort of offer was on the table. He stepped back and resumed his perch on the window table and hooking his thumbs into his jeans pockets he nodded at the office chair and waited until Mattie had sat down again.

"The thing is, that Catherine and I are both adults, so people who make the mistake of thinking you're just an ordinary kid, will be more inclined to listen to us. Secondly, we are both lawyers - yeah I know, the kid's doomed," he quoted her own words back at her in the hope that some of the tension and worry evident in her face would dissipate. He was rewarded by a grin, a shadow of the ones she had worn earlier, but still it was an improvement.

"So, when we start sending out bills and reminder letters, the magic words 'Attorney at Law' can appear under our signatures, and you'd be surprised just how persuasive those three little words can be. Then again, we can go to court for you and argue against the power company and the county, and maybe get them to hold off their claims until you've got the money that's owed you and can pay the bills and the taxes. How does that sound?"

"You… you'd do all that for me?" Mattie asked in amazement.

Harm grinned, and using her own favourite term of endorsement he exclaimed, "Damn' straight!"

Mattie just stared at him, not only at a loss for words, but entirely unable to think for the moment, but Harm despite her silence could see some of the signs of strain in her face beginning to fade, and maybe just the beginning of hope to show in her eyes.

After what seemed to be a long silence, Mattie finally nodded her head, and gulped before she stammered, "O… OK…Yeah, let's… let's give it a go." and she held out her hand.

Harm took her hand in his and shook it gravely. "Yeah, we'll give it a go! Now, and don't yell at me, I called Catherine earlier, and she's swinging by after work, she'll be here at about eighteen-thirty hours, and I figure we'll need to go over the books and see exactly what we're going to have to deal with."

Mattie glared at him for an instant, "Damn' grown-ups, always thinking they know best and interfering, and not telling people what they're doing and…" she grumbled, as she ransacked filing drawers and her desk gathering together the company books and various creditors and debtors files

Harm recognised that Mattie was still a mess of sometimes conflicting emotions and was content to grin at her and let her vent. At length Mattie saw his grin and floundered to a halt, "Uh… I'm being pretty dumb, aren't I?" she asked somewhat shamefaced.

"Nah, you're just venting, and that's allowed - within limits," he told her, his grin not abating in the slightest, "besides, when you're giving me a death glare like that, you have no idea just how cute you look."

"Cute? Hell no! I don't _do_ cute!" Mattie stood with her feet braced apart and her hands on her hips, really giving him her best, most ferocious glare.

Harm managed not to burst into laughter, but he could feel the strain as he disagreed with her, "Umm… Mattie, I hate to bust your bubble, but… uh… yeah… you do cute, you're doing it right now!"

It had been so long since Mattie had anyone around her who teased her, that she'd almost forgotten how it felt. And no matter how much outrage she pretended at being labeled 'cute' she couldn't quite ignore the little glow of warmth that seemed to growing somewhere between her stomach and her throat, no more could she ignore the smirk, no make that the sympathetic smile on the face of her newest pilot.

x-x-x-x-x

Catherine waddled into the office a little after eighteen forty hours, with a breezy, "Hey guys, sorry I'm late, but I made a stop just up the road!"

"Hell, you are so forgiven!" Mattie exclaimed as she saw the two pizza boxes that Catherine was carrying. Pizza boxes that bore the logo of her favourite local pizza parlour, which as Catherine had just said, was just up the road.

Harm smiled at Mattie's enthusiasm as the youngster cleared a space on the desk, and relieving Catherine of the boxes indicated that she should take the office chair. Catherine smile gratefully and sat down. Sending a meaningful look at Harm, "You really owe my feet for this one!" she told him.

Harm crossed the room and bent to kiss her cheek. "As Madame, wishes, but you'll have to wait until we get home," he smiled and whispered into her ear, his breath stirring her hair and causing it to tickle her. Catherine couldn't resist giving just the tiniest of squirms and neither could she prevent a hastily choked off giggle from escaping.

Mattie blanched, as far as she was concerned this was a way too affectionate display of… affection. "Uh… guys? Hungry teenager here, remember?"

Harm straightened and shot her a look of mock annoyance which she blithely ignored in favour of opening the two pizza boxes, "OK, whadda we got here? Oh… yeah! Double Pepperoni," she sighed in ecstasy, "And… what's this one Catherine?"

"Oh, that would be the roasted vegetables with double cheese." Both Catherine and Harm laughed at the horrified expression on Mattie's face. "You see, Harm doesn't eat meat." Catherine explained apologetically.

"Unreal!" Mattie answered, and then as the two adults again broke into laughter, she demanded indignantly, "What? What did I say?"

Eventually, pizzas consumed and the wreckage cleared away, the three of them got down to the serious business of going over the company books and bank statements. Catherine fired off a series of questions at Mattie and with each answer her and Harm's expressions became graver.

After about half an hour, Mattie was looking frightened and turning to Catherine, she begged, "Please, tell me, what's going on, you're beginning to scare me."

Catherine put down the pen with which she had been making notes, "Mattie, I'm afraid there is no easy way of saying this, but Grace Aviation is, at best guess, about two months away from going bankrupt. That means you'll lose the company, and you'll lose the house. The only good thing about that is you'll be able to pay off your debts at cents on the dollar, and because you're a minor, it won't be your name that gets the black mark."

"But, I don't understand… when mom was alive, we were doing good…"

"Mattie, you would still be doing good, as you put it, except for two things. First you've got people who owe you money and aren't paying. I think I can fix that with a few letters saying you'll take them to municipal court to get your money back. Harm or I will represent you for that. But secondly, and perhaps more important, is this bank loan. It's huge, and the interest on it is so high that the payments are killing you! But where's the money? I can't see any evidence of it being spent anywhere. I mean it's there on the bank statement one day, and it's withdrawn over the next three months, and now there's not a penny of it left. Mattie, what was the loan for… Oh, wait a minute, you're a minor, you couldn't have gotten a loan." Catherine thought for a moment more, "Your dad, he's got power of attorney, hasn't he?"

Mattie just nodded numbly.

"He took the loan out, and used the company to secure it?"

Mattie nodded again.

"OK, who's your company attorney, Mattie, the first thing we have to do is get that power of attorney revoked. There's no point in trying to stabilize the company finances if he can just dip into the bank account at will."

"Uh… I don't have an attorney… Dad just went to a local Justice of the Peace to get the attorney power thing."

Catherine raised her eyebrows at that, but instead of saying anything more, she just made a note. Then she went on to say, "OK, now we need to schedule a full meeting with your company's CPA here in Charlottesville. We need to figure out just exactly how much the company is worth, and see if we can't get some re-financing done and reduce your monthly outgoings."

"In the meantime," Harm interrupted, "I'll take care of the power company bill for you - no, it's not charity, he said fixing Mattie with a frown as she made to protest, "You'll pay me back as soon as we get this mess untangled for you. And I'll talk to the county about getting a stay of the lien on the taxes you owe. But Mattie, that's only a temporary fix…" he looked at Catherine silently asking for her agreement, which she gave with the slightest of nods. Harm drew a breath and plunged in, "Because you're a minor, once we get your dad's power of attorney revoked - and I'll start on that in the morning, so I may be a bit late getting in boss," he told her with a smile, "you won't have anyone who is able to sign checks or go to court to demand payment of debts owed to you. So I came up with an idea, and if you're happy with it, Catherine and I are going to start things in motion to become your legal guardians. That means that we'd be a family, and that Catherine and I would be almost like your parents."

Mattie's mouth dropped open, this was the last thing she'd expected to hear, "You don't have to do that! And... And...Why… why would you want to do that…?"

"Well, because life's dealt you a pretty poor hand so far, and we'd like to try and help make that up for you. Because you've got guts and determination and because you're such a little fighter, you deserve at least one more chance, and we figure that we can get that chance for you, and…"

"And because we just plain like you," Catherine interjected.

"How can you like me?" Mattie challenged them, "you hardly even know me!"

Catherine looked across at Harm as if to say 'leave this to me' and then turned her attention back towards Mattie, "H'mm, Mattie, have you ever heard of love at first sight?"

"Yeah, of course I have. I'm young, not stupid! But what's that got to do with it?"

"Well, if there's such a thing as love at first sight, don't you think that there just might be a thing called 'instant liking'? You know, you meet someone and you just click, like you know you're going to be best friends forever?"

Mattie couldn't prevent her eyes straying in Harm's direction where they rested for a few seconds before she turned back to Catherine, "Yeah, I guess." After all, she'd found herself opening up to Harm in way she hadn't done to anybody else since her mother had died.

Catherine smiled with satisfaction, "And we feel that way about you, so that's why we want to become your guardians. To look after you, and to give you that second shot at life."

x-x-x-x-x

Tracy Manetti shivered, although she was still in uniform and had her raincoat on for extra warmth, the chill was beginning to get to her again. She turned on her car's ignition and waited for the engine to warm up again before turning the heater system back on to flood the cab with warm air. Sighing with impatience, she looked at her watch, it was almost twenty-one thirty hours, and she'd become aware that her parked car was drawing some curious glances from some of the passers-by. In fact, she was sure that two of them had actually now passed back and forth across the alley's mouth at least four times, and that thought was making her feel decidedly uneasy. She opened her purse and was reassured by the feel of her pistol as she took it in her hand. Damn Rabb for living in such a dangerous neighbourhood! If he didn't show with the next fifteen minutes, then she was going to call it a night and face Sheffield in the morning with her tale of failure, and take his sarcasm. Just as she'd made the decision a pair of headlights swept across the front of her car, momentarily dazzling her and she hoped for a second or two that finally Rabb had returned home from wherever he'd been. That hope was almost instantly dashed as a second vehicle pulled in behind the first. Tracy licked her suddenly dry lips, and pulling her Sig from her purse, she cocked the weapon and waited with her heart in her mouth. Then she felt almost dizzy as a wave of relief washed over her when she recognised the tall figure who climbed out of the first vehicle, an SUV, and then walked to the other car, where he stopped and assisted an obviously pregnant woman to her feet.

Drawing a couple of deep breaths, she re-engaged the Sig's safety and replaced in her purse before climbed out of her own car, and called out, "Mr Rabb, could you spare me a few minutes of your time, please?"

Harm spun around and stepped between Catherine and the source of the voice, before he realised that it was a familiar one. Racking his brains he tried to place the soft Virginia accent, "Commander Manetti?"

"It most surely is." She admitted.

Harm picked up on the note of relief in her voice, "What are you doing here, at this time of night?" he demanded, concern making his voice sound slightly more antagonistic than he had meant.

"Why, Mr Rabb, that question almost takes me back to Naples," she smiled, "I've been trying to get in touch with you all day, but the only current information I have on you is this address and your land line number. I have an invitation to deliver to you." She paused for effect, "From the Secretary of the Navy."

Harm was dumbfounded for a moment or two and then he found his voice, "Well, we can't talk about that out here. Won't you please come up?"

The three of them road the groaning elevator in silence, Catherine wincing as it jolted to a halt on the third floor. Harm guided her along the hallway with his hand at her back and opened the apartment door, stepping back to allow the two women to enter. He took Catherine's jacket from her and turned to help Tracy out her coat, overriding her protest that she wasn't staying long, by replying, "Maybe so, but if you don't take your coat off indoors, not only will you stop the warmth from getting to you, but you won't feel the benefit of it once you get outside again. Now please take a seat, while I make us all a drink. Catherine and I... oh, do you know each other, Catherine Gale, this is Commander Tracy Manetti, she works for the SecNav; Tracy, this is Catherine Gale, from the State Department.

Tracy looked Harm in the eye as she replied, "Yes, I know of Miss Gale, although we never have met," leaving both Harm and Catherine in no doubt that she knew exactly where and for whom Catherine worked. "Miss Gale, it is indeed a pleasure to meet you."

Harm cleared his throat, "As I was saying, we usually drink tea this time of evening. Is that alright with you?"

"Why, thank you, Mr Rabb. That will be just dandy."

Tracy sat in one of the armchairs and chatted with Catherine, asking when was the baby due, and did she know what sex, had she picked out names, and similar questions, until Harm joined them carrying a tray on which three mugs of raspberry and rosehip tea rested.

He forestalled all attempts at serious conversation until the drinks had been consumed, and then taking the tray to the kitchen island, he turned to Tracy and asked, "So what did bring you here at this time of night, and what was so urgent that you felt you had to wait for me? And don't do that again. Don't hang around here after dark on your own! This not the best neighbourhood in DC!"

"Yes, I sort of got that feeling myself," Tracy admitted. "I was glad I had my sidearm with me, but I was even happier when you showed up when you did. I had just about made up my mind to call it a day."

Harm was slightly mollified by Tracy's admission. It was far more than he'd ever gotten from Mac. "OK, so, as I said, what's so all-fired important?"

"Mr Secretary Sheffield is anxious to have a meeting with you at your earliest convenience."

"About what?"

"Harm, I really don't know exactly what he's got in mind. But after Admiral Chegwidden resigned today…"

"Chegwidden resigned?" Harm could not have been more surprised if Tracy had told him that the sun was to rise in the West tomorrow.

"Yes, sir. He did. After he resigned, Mr Sheffield asked me to contact you and arrange a meeting between you. Harm, I'm not certain, but I have a feeling that he is prepared to reinstate your commission."

"Uh… Tracy, I don't know… things…" he looked meaningfully at Catherine, "things in my life have changed. Right now, I don't know whether I want my commission back."

And despite his bitterness and his confession of this morning to Mattie, he had become aware that he had made commitments to Catherine and Elizabeth, and now this evening to Mattie. Yes, he wanted back in the navy, but in the face of the promises he had made, was that option still a realistic one?

Tracy nodded non-committally. She'd read through Harm's service record and that together with her personal knowledge of him found it difficult to reconcile his recent treatment by JAG with his character and with his record, and guessed he had his good reason to be reluctant to expose himself to that sort of treatment again.

"Look, Tracy, I appreciate you coming over here with the invitation, but I as I think you'll appreciate, I need to talk it over with Catherine, a decision to return to the navy now affects more than just myself. Leave me your card, and I'll call you when we've talked this over. Probably tomorrow," he turned to Catherine for corroboration, "OK?"

"Sure, that's fine, Harm. I'll expect your call. And now if you'll excuse me, it is getting kinda late, and we ladies do need our beauty sleep."

"Of course." Harm rose and helped her on with her coat. "I'll walk you down."

"Why, thank you, sir," Tracy replied in her soft drawl, "that's much appreciated."

Harm returned to the apartment a few minutes later and sitting down on the couch next to Catherine he looked at her and said, "Well."

"Well," she replied, "what are you going to do?"

"That's not the question," he told her gravely, "The question is, what are we going to do?"

"Don't get ahead of yourself Harm, it's only 'we', if he does offer to reinstate you, and you then think you need to take 'we' into consideration. It's up to you whether or not you accept his invitation to meet."

"Do you think I should?"

"Well, it couldn't hurt." She told him fondly.


	10. Chapter 10

**10**

Harm sat at his kitchen's breakfast bar, a plate of now-cold toast by his elbow, and a mug of coffee cradled in his hands as he stared moodily at his cell phone on the bar-top in front of him and contemplated on last evening's events.

After Tracy Manetti's departure, he had hastily thrown together a dish of pasta with pesto which as soon as it was ready he and Catherine had eaten, sharing the silence just as much as they had shared the meal. Recognising his pre-occupation Catherine had been content to just sit with him for a while as he wrestled with his instincts, his wishes and his obligations. Eventually however, she had started yawning, jolting Harm from his introspection, and apologising for his bad manners, he had walked her down to her car.

Unlocking her car, Catherine had turned to him and holding onto his upper arms for balance, she had raised herself on tip-toe and kissed him gently, "Don't sit up all night brooding," she admonished him quietly, "You always do the right thing, even when it costs you. So have faith in your instincts. Whatever you decide, I'm right here, and I'm not fixing to go anywhere."

Harm had just smiled warmly, returned her kiss and said, "Thank you."

But despite Catherine's pledged support and all the arguments he had tossed back and forth during a mostly sleepless night, he still hadn't reached a decision. He shook his head, impatient with himself for not being able to make a simple decision, and then again remembering Catherine's words, "it couldn't hurt," he swore silently, and fishing Tracy's card out of his shirt pocket, he cast a calculating glance at his watch and then dialled her cell 'phone.

"_Manetti."_

"Good morning… Tracy, it's Harm…"

"_Good morning to you too, sir."_ The rising inflection of her voice made her simple greeting sound like a question.

"Yeah. OK, I've decided, I'll accept the SecNav's invitation to meet; but it can't be today… There's a lot going on with me right now, and I have some important stuff to deal with…"

"_I understand, Harm. I'll explain you have a full agenda for today… It might actually help your negotiating position if he thinks that you have other fish to fry…_" she added speculatively.

Harm smiled mirthlessly, "That sounds a mite devious… and there I was a-thinking you were just another spoiled southern belle!"

"_Oh, but I am, sir, although it's most ungallant of you to say so!_" And then losing the teasing note in her voice, she added soberly, _"OK, Harm, I'll tell him you called, and I'll get back to you with a time and a date_."

"Yeah, thanks Tracy - have you got my cell 'phone number?"

"_I have now, Harm! 'Bye_."

"Yeah, 'bye, Tracy."

Harm closed his cell phone after another look at his watch, and then decided he'd wait until he got down to Charlottesville before he called Catherine to tell her of his decision. He shrugged into his leather jacket and slipping the 'phone into his pocket, he picked up his crash helmet and made for the door.

x-x-x-x-x

Harm had by-passed Charlottesville-Albemarle airport and had ridden straight to Charlottesville municipal courthouse, where a succession of inquiries eventually led to the family court clerk's office. The clerk, separated by a counter from the public, was a middle-aged female who appeared to be about five-feet nothing tall, with a full figure, her sizeable bosom matched by her wide hips.

As Harm entered her office, she looked up at him, over the top of her wire-framed spectacles, and gave him a look of a type that he normally reserved for cockroaches, rats and other assorted vermin. Harm gulped as he realised he would have to face this gorgon on her own turf. In the nature of things, as a trial lawyer, he knew next to nothing about family courts, except that they were frequently run on very different lines from that to which he was accustomed.

It seemed his worst fears were realised when she asked in a cold voice, "How may I help you?"

Harm tried a smile, which she met with a stony glare, as he swallowed hard, and replied, "I… I've come to inquire about applying for legal guardianship of a child…"

A snorted "H'mph!" was his only verbal answer as she heaved herself to her feet and walked across her office to a filing cabinet where, after a few seconds she turned to the counter with a large manila envelope in her hand. "Well, here it is everything you need to know right now, what forms to complete, what the court fees are, the criteria that need to met before application for a court hearing, and it explains the need for home visits and an interview by the _Guardian ad Litem_ - that's…"

"I do know what a _Guardian ad Litem_ is, thank you!" Harm interrupted her brusquely. In the space of three minutes she had succeeded in angering him, It wasn't so much what the woman had said, but rather the affectedly superior manner in which she used them, as if he, a member of the public was somehow an inferior breed to a minor civil servant.

Harm picked up the envelope and tucked into the partially zipped front of his jacket, and with a nod and a "Thank you, ma'am," made a quick getaway. Standing next to the Indian he forced himself to breathe deeply, getting frustrated with petty officialdom this early in the process of applying for Mattie's guardianship did not, he told himself, bode well for the future. But the really worrying aspect of this affair, he thought as he fastened his helmet strap, was that he had reacted so quickly to much less provocation than he had received in the past from obtuse and/or hostile senior officers. Was it only the navy discipline enforced by the UCMJ, that had prevented him from blowing up in their faces, or had his character actually changed in the months he had been out of the navy?

Kicking the Indian's engine into life, he leaned into the right hand turn from the court house parking lot, and accelerated gently on the road that would lead him to the airport, but now, as he rode, he wondered if he was still psychologically fit to be a naval officer.

He still hadn't decided on an answer to that question when some fifteen minutes later he rolled to a halt alongside the Grace Aviation Hangar and turned the Indian's key in the ignition, killing the engine. As he dismounted and heaved the heavy machine up onto its stand he saw the diminutive figure of Mattie stride determinedly towards him, a definite scowl of displeasure on her face.

"You're late!" she snapped at him.

"Yeah… sorry about that boss… but I had something urgent to do in Charlottesville, and… uh… it's kind of important, so I couldn't just let it wait…"

"Oh yeah? Like what?" Mattie demanded her arms firmly crossed in front of her chest, her feet braced apart and her chin jutting pugnaciously.

Harm grinned at her and waited for a moment, and then as her eyes narrowed and her mouth began to open, he interjected, "Well, I had to go to the courthouse and start the paperwork so that Catherine and I can become your guardians…" he said softly.

Mattie's eyes suddenly swam with moisture, and she turned away from him as she hastily swiped her eyes with the cuff of her sweat shirt sleeve and said gruffly, "You don't have to do this, you know."

Harm took the necessary three steps to close the distance between them and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Yeah, we do," he contradicted her.

"Yeah, whatever. But you still got the long field at the old Williams place to spray. So if you want your pay, you'd best damn' well go and earn it!"

Knowing that Mattie was using her peevish scolding voice as a cover for her emotions, Harm just squeezed her shoulder slightly for a second or two, and said, "On it ma'am! But, before I go…" he pulled his cell 'phone out of his pocket, "Can you look after this for me, and answer any calls and take any messages, please?"

"What am I, your damn secretary all of a sudden? Yeah, OK, just give me the 'phone, find out where it is you're supposed to be going and get your a… uh… your six in the air!"

"Aye, aye, ma'am!"

Feeling him move away from her, Mattie stood still for a few seconds before she turned and watched him walk away, "Why are you doing this?" she whispered, and then, "Please, don't let this be some kind of sick joke…"

x-x-x-x-x

Harm taxied the Ag-Cat back to the hangar and applied the brakes to halt it on the apron as he eased the throttle all the way back as he switched off the engine. Climbing out of the cockpit he indulged in his customary bending and stretching exercises to work the kinks out of his back, before he headed for the office.

"Hey, boss…" he started cheerfully, only to stop dead as he saw Mattie's woebegone face which bore the unmistakable signs of a very recent bout of tears. "Hey, squirt," he began again, but in a much softer, more concerned tone, "what's happened here? Where's the spitfire that tore me a new one just a couple of hours ago?"

Mattie just shook her head and gestured helplessly at the pile of paperwork on the desk in front of her, after a moment or two as she worked her mouth, she managed to croak, "Harm, I'm getting so tired of it… everyday, more bills, more demands for payment, more threats of taking the company to court…"

Harm moved forward and squatted in front of Mattie, taking her hands in his, "Hey, hey, OK, so it's bad, but it's not so bad that we can't fix it. You, me, Catherine, we're a team now… Hey, you haven't seen Catherine in action, I have. I've been up against her in court. She's one damn tough lady lawyer; these legal weenies writing these pathetic little letters? They haven't got a clue what they'll be facing - she'll have 'em for breakfast!"

Mattie sniffled, "ya think?"

Harm smiled reassuringly, "No Mattie, I don't think; I know!"

Mattie cocked her head sideways and squinted up at him, "So she kicked your butt in court then, huh?"

"Ummm…" Harm had the grace to look slightly embarrassed, "Uh… no… actually, I… uh.., won that case…"

"So you're a better lawyer than she is? So how come you won't be my lawyer against these…?"

"Umm… I… I wouldn't say I was a better lawyer… I…uh… got lucky in that case against Catherine; somebody I know came up with some evidence she didn't know about, and it kinda tipped things in my favour, but until then she was in a fair way to whupping my a… uh… six! Besides which, we work in slightly different areas of the law, I'm more of a criminal lawyer, I either send the bad guys to jail or keep the good guys out of jail… and Catherine… she's more of a… corporate lawyer, she deals more with injunctions and torts and claims and damages, so she's got a lot more relevant experience than I have."

"Uh-huh," Mattie nodded to show that she understood what Harm was telling her, but the tone of her voice and the expression on her face just about screamed out loud that while she might accept his explanation, she didn't necessarily believe him.

"So, kiddo… uh… boss lady secretary…" Mattie giggled at the sudden plethora of titles he'd come up with for her, "Any messages come through?"

"Uh… yeah, just one," Mattie scrabbled through the mess of papers on her desk, "Yeah, from a Tracy, she said 'SecNav wants to know if tomorrow at fourteen hundred is OK?'" she paused, the trouble back in her eyes, "Harm, what's SecNav?"

Harm breathed deeply and braced himself, "SecNav is the Secretary for the Navy… he's like the navy's political boss, kind of two steps down the ladder from the President."

"So," Mattie asked suspiciously, "What's he want with you? You're not in the navy any more."

"No… I'm not. And as for what he wants… I'm not sure, but the Tracy that left that message, well, she is still in the navy, and she came by last night to tell me… us… me and Catherine… that the SecNav wants to speak with me, and she kind of hinted that he wants me back in the navy…"

"Huh, so you will go back and work that mean old man!"

"Mattie, I don't know yet what's happening. I don't really know what the SecNav wants with me. But I do know this, if going back into the navy means going back to JAG, it won't happen! And I can't go back and work for admiral Chegwidden, because he's resigned. And" he added with heavy emphasis, "even if the Admirl was still in his job, I still wouldn't go back and work for him. I told you that twice now, and I told him, to his face that I would never serve under him again. What's more, there are other reasons why I won't go back to JAG."

"Yeah, like what?" Mattie demanded, her chair now pushed as far away from Harm as she could manage in her small office, and her arms again crossed in front of her.

"Well, Mattie… they're kind of personal, what we call 'need to know', and right now, you don't need to know anything other than they will keep me away from JAG for the foreseeable future."

Mattie nodded as she digested Harm's words. Although she was burning with curiosity as to what those reasons could be, she treasured her own privacy too much to keep probing what seemed to be a touchy subject. She shrugged, "OK, but, if you go back into the navy, what happens to the idea of you looking after me?"

"Well, you know Mattie, I've been thinking about that… It might actually help… Remember, we're coming to the end of the dusting season, so you won't be using pilots until next spring. And that means I'll be out of a job until then, and that won't look good on the application, even though Catherine's got a good steady job. But the thing is, we haven't really talked about what she's going to do once she'd had the baby, she might want to quit her job and be a stay at home mom, and if that happens, I think we can definitely say goodbye to any chance of being granted guardianship… But…" he held up a silencing hand as Mattie seemed about to speak, "If I'm back in the navy, as an officer, in a respected profession with a good and steady income, then it will help our chances."

"Yeah, but what if you get sent to a ship or even Iraq or Afghanistan…"

"Well, that's always a possibility… one of the chances that you take when you're in the military, but if I decide to go back to the navy, then one of the things I'm going to ask for is a job in the DC area for the next three years, until you are eighteen years old."

"What happens then?"

"Then, you should be in college, and you'll be classified as a young adult, and won't need a guardian."

"So… you'd just cut me loose, hey?"

"Oh, Mattie, no!" Harm protested, "not cut you loose, just slacken off the reins a little bit…"

Mattie stared at him, and although she kept her face impassive, there was just the beginning of hope in her heart, hope that here at last was someone who wouldn't abandon her…

x-x-x-x-x

"Norman, hi, this is Catherine Gale over in legal. Norman, I need your awesome forensic accountancy skills. I have a set of books I really need going over with a fine-tooth comb. The thing is, Norman, is that I don't have a case reference number, so… I need it done off the books… and it's a rush job."

"_I don't know Catherine… we're pretty busy over here…"_ But although Catherine could hear the reluctance in his voice, she thought she could also detect a degree of compliance. It was unfair to play him, she knew, but Norman Jackson had never made a secret of his attraction to her, and although she could never return his sentiments, she didn't actively dislike him, and besides, it was all in a good cause…

"I would be very grateful, Norman," she hinted.

Norman heaved an audible sigh, his way of telling her she'd won, "_OK, do you want me to come and get them?"_ he asked hopefully.

"No, I'll bring them over. I need the exercise," she joked, and of course the fact that because Norman shared an office, she wouldn't have to be alone with him was only an incidental bonus.

x-x-x-x-x

Harm left Mattie alone for a while to think over what he'd said. As he'd tried to make clear to her, all the talk about him going back into the navy was only speculation based on Tracy Manetti's feeling that his return to duty was what SecNav was after. In the meantime, he could definitely do with a sandwich and a coffee, and he also needed to talk to the realtor. The SecNav's invitation - or summons - was having the side effect of speeding up events in other areas of his life.

So sandwich finished and iced tea drunk, Harm fished out his cell 'phone before heading back to the hangar for that coffee he's promised himself. A five minute phone call to the realtor had Harm grinning to himself, as he dialed Catherine's cell 'phone.

"_Hi Harm, this is becoming a regular habit_!" Catherine had checked caller ID before answering, and had, anyway, half been expecting Harm to call her.

"Yeah, 'tis. Are you sitting down?" he asked solicitously, but Catherine could hear the excitement in his voice.

"_Yes… why_?" she asked.

"Well, two pieces of news. One good, the other I'm not sure of yet…"

Catherine felt her stomach tighten as she breathed deeply and said, "_Go on, then…"_

"Well, then… I've just spoken to Graves' Realtors, the vendors have come back with a counter offer, splitting the difference between the asking price and the offer we made yesterday, and have agreed to take twenty five K off the asking price." He paused for a moment before adding, "And I've said 'yes'. Catherine, we're buying the house on Woodford Road in Vienna!"

"_Oh, Harm! That's fantastic!"_ then Catherine too paused, "_Now I suppose we need to get our articles of partnership for my mortgage set in motion…"_

"Yeah we do, but before we talk about that for the moment, Tracy Manetti's gotten back to me too. The SecNav wants to see me at fourteen hundred tomorrow. Now, if Tracy's right and he's going to offer to reinstate me, and provided the conditions under which any reinstatement takes place are right, then, especially after talking to Mattie today, I'm strongly tempted, at the moment to say 'yes'. And if I do go back to the navy, we can use the LSO to sort out any and all paperwork, without having to ask favours from friends, and without having to pay an outside attorney. But I want to go through my reasons with you this evening, and see if we can come to a joint decision, just in case I have to make an instant decision tomorrow."

Catherine was silent for a long moment; she'd suspected from the instant that Tracy Manetti had hinted that the SecNav might be considering reinstating Harm's commission that if the chance were offered to him that he would take it. It hadn't been anything to take into consideration when she had first agreed to his crazy scheme, but she had seen at that time there was something essentially Harm that was missing from him, and she wanted that part of him back, Maybe his return to the navy would give him, and her, that missing something, whatever it was. But for good or evil Catherine Gale had made her choice. Harm Rabb was her man, and no matter what he decided, she would stand by him.

She was recalled to the present by Harm's anxious voice, "Catherine? Catherine? Are you still there?"

"_Oh… yes... I'm still here. I was just thinking for a moment… Yes, you should talk to the SecNav, and yes, we will talk it through this evening._

"Yeah, we will. So… I'll meet you as planned at the hospital, at seventeen hundred hours?"

"_Yes. I'll see you there..."_

"OK, 'bye"

"_Yeah, 'bye Harm…"_ For some reason Catherine felt reluctant to end the call, and kept her 'phone to her ear until she heard the line go dead. Closing her 'phone she placed back on the desk, and stared unseeingly at it, her mind filled with images of a house with a white picket fence, a swing seat on the porch and rose bushes growing each side of the porch steps. Returning to the sterile reality of her office, Catherine gave a rueful grin, and placing a hand on her bump, she mused, 'Oh boy, have got I the nesting syndrome bad, or what!'

Pushing herself to her feet, she gathered up Grace Aviation's financial books and steeled herself for the trek, 'or long distance waddle' she grinned to herself, across to the accounting department.

x-x-x-x-x

"Hey, there," Harm said quietly as he poked his head around the door frame.

Esther Gale dropped her magazine and hitched herself up in bed, holding out both her hands towards him, and with happiness dancing in her eyes, she exclaimed, "Harmon! Don't just stand there, come on in!"

Harm crossed the room towards her, his eyes anxiously taking in every detail of her appearance, she was a little flushed, if the pink in her cheeks was any guide, but that wasn't necessarily an alarm signal, it might just be, strange as it may seem, that she was happy to see him again, although if he were a betting man, he wouldn't place a vast sum on that possibility. He took her proffered hands gently in his and asked, "How are you today, Mrs Gale?"

Esther tilted her head to one side in her habitual bird-like gesture, her eyes twinkling, "Is that it? Don't I even get a duty kiss?" she pouted.

Harm laughed softly, "Shameless! That's what you are!" he accused her as he perched on the side of the bed and stooped to place a soft kiss on her cheek.

"Oh, I see," a giggling Catherine interrupted from the doorway, "I can't leave you alone with my mother for five minutes before she's trying to make out with you!"

Harm twisted around on the bed, smiling as Catherine entered the room, before standing and helping her off with her coat.

"And just how do you know it was my doing, dear?" Esther challenged her daughter.

"Because, although you were blocked from my sight by Harm, I distinctly heard your voice demanding the kiss," Catherine smiled.

Once again Esther managed a mock pout through her smile, "Drat, busted!"

Harm turned from hanging up Catherine's coat, "Oh, yeah!" he agreed as he slipped his arm around Catherine's waist and dropped a quick kiss on her lips as she raised her face to him.

Esther's bright eyes took in the unselfconscious way in which Harm had kissed her daughter and the readiness with which Catherine had accepted the kiss, and felt her heart warm. It seemed to her that her initial suspicions - or hopes - had not been ill-founded, and that the little ember she'd thought she'd detected had indeed grown, if not a raging inferno, at least to a comfortable glow.

"Bed or chair, Catherine?" Harm asked as they turned back to face her mother.

Catherine debated for a moment. The chair offered her lumbar support, but the bed would be easier to stand up from, and with what she felt she had to tell her mom, the bed would be the better bet. "I'll perch on the bed for a while, thanks, Harm… but if it gets too much I'll swap out with you."

Once again Esther noted that Harm kept a supporting hand in the small of Catherine's back as she moved towards the bed, transferring his grip to her forearm as she lowered herself to the edge of the bed, and Esther was gratified to see that not only had Harm taken hold of Catherine's forearm, but also that she had gripped his wrist for extra support as she sat.

"So, what have you two been up to, since we last spoke?" Esther demanded, her eyes darting back and forth between the two, as Harm pulled a chair forward so that Catherine could see both him and Esther, without having to twist and turn.

"Well… quite a lot…" Catherine hedged, suddenly realising the enormity of the surprises they were about to spring on her mom, considering the state of her health, and she cast a supplicating glance at Harm.

"Well… first off," he said slowly, judging the effect of his words on the older woman, "Catherine and I made an offer on a house, yesterday, and hearing the counter offer that was made today, we've decided to go ahead and buy it. It's in Vienna. A little bit further out than is ideal, but it suits our needs, and in the end the price was right."

"Oh, my!" Esther put her hand to her throat in an instinctive gesture, but as she saw the quick alarm on both Harm and Catherine's faces, she smiled, "No, no. I'm fine. Just a little surprised, is all. Tell me all about the house," she begged with a smile, as she wriggled back against her pillows in an effort to be more comfortable.

Harm gave her a brief run down on the size of the property and its desirable qualities, while Esther listened with an expression of intense interest on her face, and her eyes again darting back and forth between Harm and her daughter. But the by time Harm had finished his description, her face wore a slight frown, "Isn't it a little big for just you two and the baby?"

Catherine blushed slightly and looked an appeal at Harm, who gently shook his head, "Oh no," he said softly, "you got us into this one; you tell her!"

"Just what's going on here, Catherine Gale?" Esther demanded as she sat up in bed again.

"Give me a moment, Mom, please?" then she turned an accusing eye on her tormentor, "And just how is it my fault? You were the one who hit me with it out of the blue last night!" she reminded him.

"Well… true… but you were the one who decided to jump into this thing… and you did agree it would have to be all or nothing…"

Esther had tried and failed to follow the conversation and with a look of utter confusion on her face she asked, "Catherine…?"

"Hush, mom," her loving daughter said, as she glared at a totally unrepentant and broadly grinning Harm, "You're loving this aren't you?" she demanded of him.

"Oh, yeah!" he smirked

Catherine glared at him again and then turned back to her mother, "The thing is mom, that by Christmas, we reckon that you won't have one granddaughter, but two…"

"Two…? I don't understand… If you're having twins… then how… what you said about last night, and getting involved… Catherine! If you're teasing me…!"

"Well, we are a bit, mom, but it's not twins, honestly. But do you remember how Harm was joking about his new job as a crop duster?" Esther nodded.

"Well, he thought that it was the boss' daughter running the office, while her dad was off piloting. It seems though, that the daughter, Mattie, was running the whole shebang herself. And I might add, quite illegally and without the necessary licences from the FAA."

"But where were her father, and her mother in all this?" Esther asked; her indignation and bewilderment fading as she became absorbed in the story.

"Well it seems the father was responsible for killing the mother by drunk driving, and has now vanished, leaving fourteen year old Mattie on her own. She's done a pretty good job of looking after herself," Harm took up the story, "But, the business is in trouble, and unless it can be turned around in a very short time, she's going to lose the business and her home. And sooner or later the FAA are going to find out what's happening - they always do, and then Child Protective Services will have to get involved, and… well, the long and the short of it is that Catherine and I have decided to apply for legal guardianship of Mattie, and see if we can't at least save her house."

Esther's face assumed the expression of concern it had worn when she had first learned that Harm had never before his first day at Grace Aviation flown a crop dusting sortie, "Aren't you two taking on a house that's too big, just on the chance that you'll be able to act as guardians for this… Mattie, girl?"

"Now _that_ ball is definitely back in your court!" Harm told a stunned Catherine, and then as the import of his words struck home she turned crimson.

"Well, mom, we'd already decided…" Catherine gulped, "on that particular house, before we knew anything about Mattie and her circumstances… the fact is that we'd already discussed, as an hypothesis you understand, the question of a brother or sister for Elizabeth…"

"H'mm," her irrepressible parent replied, "don't you think that there might be something you're missing out? That you're not missing a little step that might just be desirable?"

Catherine was even more crimson than she had been a few minutes ago, and relenting in order to spare her any further discomfort, Harm stepped in again, "Well, Mrs Gale…"

"Esther, Harmon, Esther," she interrupted him.

"Esther," he nodded his agreement, "No… that step would and will be taken before there is any real question of adding to our family, but at the moment, it's not something we've discussed." He raised his eyes from Esther to Catherine's face, now dominated by eyes rounded in surprise, and smiled gently at her, "But when the time is right, I'm sure we will have that conversation."

"Y… yes… yes w..we will. We most certainly will!" Catherine declared determinedly, having recovered some of her wits that Harm had just scattered to the four winds for her.

Esther sank back onto her pillows again, a small smile twitching at the corner of her mouth. It seemed that her bull-headed daughter may have not only met her man, but also her match.

As she closed her eyes for a second, Catherine looked at her in concern, and then mouthed to Harm "SecNav?"

He looked at her for a moment, considering whether they ought to unload any further news on her this evening, but given the uncertain nature of his projected meeting with Mr Secretary Sheffield he decided that it might be better to wait until there was something concrete, if there was going to be anything concrete, to tell her. "No, leave it." He whispered back.

Catherine nodded her understanding, and asked "Mom, are you OK? You've gone very quiet."

Esther opened her eyes and tilted her head to one side as she looked up at her daughter, "No, I'm fine, Catherine, thank you, just having a few old lady thoughts. But, I guess I am a little tired. They let me up for a couple of hours this afternoon, you know, and oh, it was such a blessed relief to get out of this bed for a while. I had one of the orderlies wheel me down the hall to the day room, and it was so nice, just to sit there and look out of a different window, to see something different. And the doctors said if I don't show any signs of any ill effects, they'll consider letting me out more and for longer, but it has taken it out of me - just a little bit."

"That's great, mom! But when exactly were you planning on telling us this?"

"Oh Catherine, it's no big thing, and besides, I just did!"

"It is a big thing mom!" Catherine argued, "and it's proof that we do need that big old house, Before you know it, you'll be getting better, and then maybe you can come and stay with us for weekends until you're well enough to go home!"

"Oh, that would be lovely, dear. I shall look forward to that - once you're settled in of course!"

"Yeah, well, we've a little way to go before that stage, and I'm sure you'll be well enough by then."

"Of course I will, Catherine! But, if you don't mind, I'd like to rest for a little while before dinner. So…"

"Yes, of course, mom. Good night." Catherine bent to kiss her mother's cheek and return the surprisingly strong grip with which Esther took hold of her hands.

Harm too came to the bedside, and gently kissed Esther's other cheek, "Just so I don't make you beg again," he teased her.

"You are a bad man, Harmon Rabb," Esther scolded him, "and you look after my daughter and your children do you hear?"

"I hear you, ma'am. Loud and clear! Goodnight."

Esther watched in happy silence as Harm helped Catherine with her coat and blew them both a kiss as they paused and turned at the door. Once they had vanished from her sight, she lay back against her pillow, the brightness in her eyes now caused by unshed tears, "Oh Catherine," she sighed, "We both know that I'm never going to get out of here…"

"You're not, you know" Catherine said in a muffled voice as they walked out into the dark of the parking lot.

"Not what?" Harm asked in surprise.

"Despite what mom said, you're not a bad man. You are a _good_ man Harmon Rabb!" Catherine declared fervently.

Fortunately it was too dark for Catherine to see the flush that mounted to Harm's cheeks and perhaps even more fortunate that Catherine didn't give him time to answer before she spoke again in a low voice, "You know that she's never going to get out of there don't you? Not even for weekend visits," and as she said the last few words, Catherine's voice broke, and she felt the sudden tears stream down her face.

"Oh, sweetheart, I know, I know," Harm said as he gathered her into his arms and let her bury her face in his shoulder. He wasn't really surprised at that point to feel his own eyes prickle with excess moisture.

They stood their arms around each other for a minute or two, until Catherine sniffled and stood back, searching in her purse for a Kleenex. Dabbing her face dry, she managed a watery smile, and said, "Well you'd best follow me back to my place, it's my turn to cook this evening!"

"Are you sure you're OK to drive." Harm asked concernedly.

"Yes, I'm fine. I was just being silly for a minute or two."

Harm looked at her critically; he wanted to refute her, to tell her that she wasn't being silly, that she was facing a loss that was all too imminent. Despite the temporary rally that Esther Gale had made, it seemed to his admittedly untrained eye that on each visit she seemed a little paler, a little weaker, a little more tired and a little more… he searched for the word he wanted, but the best he could come up with was 'transparent'

x-x-x-x-x

Harm stacked the dishes in Catherine's dishwasher and turned up the heat under her kettle to make two cups of tea, "Lemon grass, please Harm," Catherine called from the living room.

"On it, boss!" Harm replied, and smiled on hearing the answering laugh float through to the kitchen. Once the tea was brewed he bore the two mugs into the living room and carefully placed them on the occasional table in front of the sofa, most of the table's surface was occupied by Grace Aviation's books and Harm had to nudge them slightly to one side in order to make room for the coasters Catherine had ready.

Sitting beside her, Harm looked at the sheet of figures that four hours' of Norman's brainwork had produced. "What exactly are we looking at here?" Harm queried.

"Well, this figure is the net worth of the company. This figure here is the value of its assets, and this figure shows its liabilities as of yesterday's date."

Harm whistled soundlessly as he took in the discrepancies, "Can it be saved?" he asked.

"Well…" Catherine was reluctant to reveal her source, as she had a sneaky, no make that a guilty feeling, that Harm wouldn't approve of her methods, "according to our forensic accountants, it can be saved, but not without an immediate injection of capital, to balance out that discrepancy."

Harm grimaced, "What about that bank loan? That's secured on the house, isn't it?"

"Yes, it's in arrears to that amount," Catherine pointed out another figure, "but even if the arrears were paid off, it's still listed as a company asset, so if the company goes, so does the house."

Harm thought furiously, "Let's say," he suggested, "that the company sold off the house, for more than the loan secured on it. That money would clear the debt and more, and the added benefit would be that the house would no longer be vulnerable to being seized by the bank if the company goes down the tubes, right?"

"Harm, you're not thinking of buying it are you?" Catherine gasped.

"Well, I was…" he admitted sheepishly, "but I can't afford the two houses, ours and Mattie's. But," he added slowly, "I do know someone who might not only be prepared to buy the house, but might even be prepared to invest in the business…"

"Who?" Catherine asked.

"Frank."

"Your step dad?"

"Yeah… don't jump down my throat yet, because I'm still trying to put this together in my head. If we can save the company, it's obvious that Mattie, although she'd worked hard and tried her best, isn't yet up to the job. Besides which, she needs to get back to school. So if we do save the company, we'd need an aviation savvy manager to put in there. And that manager would need to live somewhere, and if that place to live turned out to be Mattie's house, then the manager would need to pay rent. In fact, thinking about it, I wouldn't really need Frank to buy the place, but just to take up the mortgage on it."

Catherine stayed silent, her jaw dropping open as Harm's eyes lit up and his delivery quickened as he followed his train of thought. This was the Harmon Rabb she remembered from the _Angelshark_ case; the Harmon Rabb who could become passionately involved in the problems that lay front of him and who would fight to do the right thing! This was Harmon Rabb finding the piece that he'd been missing since before he went freebooting in Paraguay!

"Yes, OK, I see where you're going with this, but we'd need to find as a manager, someone we trust absolutely. Who are you thinking of, one of your old flying buddies?"

"Yeah… I am," he grinned, "but probably not in the way you're thinking. Is Beth O'Neill still with the company?"

Catherine gasped again, and then an unholy smile spread across her face. "Yes, she is, just about. From what I hear, she was pretty pissed that you got canned!"

"Well then," he said expansively. "Let's make her an offer she can't refuse. Give her my cell 'phone number and we'll set up a meeting!"

"H'mm, slow down Harm. We still have to get this past Mattie."

"Yeah, I know, and I've been thinking about that too!"

"Ooh! Multi-tasking! Oh, Harmon Rabb, you are so wonderful!" Catherine breathed in mock admiration, her voice dripping with insincerity and fluttering her eyelashes at him.

"It's a damn good job you've got our daughter in there!" he growled, "Otherwise you'd be in for the tickling of your life!"

"I know," she admitted frankly, "Isn't it a good job that I'm not afraid to take advantage of my condition!"

"Just remember what they say about payback!" he cautioned her.

"Yeah, yeah, promises, promises," she scoffed, "But what about Mattie?"

"Well, I was wondering, could you put her up for one night, here?"

"Well, yes, sure…"

"Good. In that case, if it's convenient for you, I'm going bring her up from Charlottesville tomorrow, when I come up to see SecNav, and then tomorrow evening, we'll take her to meet your mom, and then we can come back here and we'll order in, and then we can put our ideas to her. Double team her."

"And if she says 'no', what then?" Catherine asked with a frown, dismissing for the moment the idea of taking Mattie to Kresge. That wasn't a problem, and would have to be done sometime in the near future, and tomorrow was as good a time as any.

"We try to talk her 'round, if she still says no, then we think again."

"So… I should call Beth tomorrow?"

"No, not yet, and I won't call Frank yet, either…"

"OK," Catherine set about tidying up the paper work, and while she was doing so, she asked, "Now, what about this meeting with the SecNav tomorrow. If he offers to reinstate you, as that… Commander whatever her name is…"

"Tracy" he supplied.

"Yes, thank you. If she's right and that's what on his mind, what are you going to do?"

"That depends, Catherine, on the exact nature of the offer. I can't go back to JAG, for a start."

"Why not?" she asked curiously as she lifted his arm to allow her to lean her against the hollow of his shoulder, "after all, she said the Admiral had resigned…"

"Yeah, and that's precisely why I can't go back. It would be assumed that his going was something that I had demanded as a price for returning to JAG. And anyway, there's still Mac…"

Catherine winced, she had forgotten about that particular eight hundred pound gorilla, and she didn't think that now was a good moment to start discussing that particular situation, instead she fastened on the first of Harm's reservations. "That's ridiculous! Why would Chegwidden's resignation make it impossible for you to go back to a job you love, and how could anybody possibly see it as your doing?" she objected.

"It may be ridiculous, but that's the way it would be seen. It would make me an absolute pariah, a political appointee, the SecNav's hatchet man, I just wouldn't be trusted; it would always be held against me at any promotions board for which I was nominated, and a way would be found, as soon as the administration changes, to get rid of me permanently."

"But, Harm you're a lawyer!"

"Yeah, I am. But I'm also a pilot, and first and foremost, I'm a naval officer!"

"So… you'd go back to flying?"

"No… I don't think so… not on a full time basis. Not any more, there's you and Elizabeth to think of, and now Mattie as well. Which is another point in favour of taking my commission…"

"Oh?"

"Yeah. As I said to Mattie this afternoon, the dusting season's just about finished, all bar the shouting, and soon I'll be an unemployed pilot. It won't look good on the guardianship application, but if I'm back in the navy when the hearing comes up. Well, that's a whole different ball game."

Catherine looked up into his eyes, which had a far-away look in them. "You're not fooling me one little bit, Harmon Rabb. You want back in the navy, don't you?"

"Yeah," he looked down into her eyes and saw the understanding in them, "Yeah I do, but I won't go back if it means letting you, our daughter or Mattie down. You three are my first priority right now. If the offer ain't right, I won't take it, and I'll go back to hawking my résumé around the various DC and Virginia law offices!"

"Harm, come here," Catherine reached up and placing her hand on the back of his neck she drew his head down and gently kissed him. "You'll do what is right," she told him, "And I'll be right at your shoulder when you do it, no matter what you decide. Because no matter what you do it _will_ be the right thing!"

x-x-x-x-x

Mattie eyed him critically. He looked sharp enough in his grey suit. His white shirt was crisply pressed and his tie knotted neatly. "Ya know," she said with a teasing smile hovering on her lips, "you clean up pretty good!

Harm looked at her skeptically, "Yeah, well, thanks. I think! You sure you're going to be alright here in the parking lot?"

"Yeah, I'm good. I got my i-pod, and I got my book. I'll keep the central locking locked, and if anyone bothers me, I'll set the alarm going! Now go, before you're late!"

"Mattie, I'm always late," he grinned, as he stepped out of the Lexus.

"Yeah, I noticed that. I _am_ still your boss, don't forget!"

"No ma'am!" he assured her.

Harm walked briskly across the parking lot to the entrance he'd been told to use and waited patiently while the impeccably turned-out Gunnery Sergeant went through the security protocols with him, eventually asking him to sign the visitors log, and issuing him with a clip-on visitors badge. The marine NCO then indicated a row of chairs against the lobby's side wall and said, "Take a seat please, Mister Rabb; I'll call down to the SecNav's department and have them send you a guide."

"There's no need for that, Gunny," a light female voice interrupted, "I've been sent by Commander Manetti to collect Mister Rabb." She turned, with a smile, towards Harm, "If you'll be pleased to walk with me. sir?"

Harm walked alongside the young Petty Officer Legalman Second Class, as she guided him down one of the many hallways that led to the inner rings of the Pentagon building. "I'm Commander Manetti's Legalman," she offered in explanation of her presence, "and the Commander asked that I meet you at the CP. And when you're done with the SecNav, I'll be here to guide you back. I suppose, that in a way, I'm a modern version of Ariadne"

Harm had to search his memory for a few moments before he made the connection, "You're not comparing the Honourable Edward Sheffield to the Minotaur, are you Legalman Two?"

For a moment the young woman was surprised by his form of address, most civilians she'd met addressed her as 'Petty Officer' and to be addressed by her rate and her rating by someone not in the navy was almost unheard of.

"Uh, no sir," she managed after a few seconds, "Not at all!" and casting a shy glance at him she read the good humour in his face and ventured a small joke, "And I don't consider Commander Manetti to be a Gorgon either!"

"No," he smiled amused at her display of confidence, "I wouldn't think that for a moment!"

The young Petty officer smiled again and continued to lead him through the hallways, eventually stopping at an office doorway, "We're here, sir, please…" she opened the door and waited for him to enter, before following him in and reaching for the intercom on the desk she pressed a button, "Yes, Barker?" came Tracy Manetti's vice.

"Ma'am, Mister Rabb is here."

"Thank you, Barker."

No more than a few seconds passed before the door in the office side wall opened and Tracy Manetti entered the room, her hand held out in greeting and a friendly smile on her face, "Harm, I am so glad, you decided to accept his invitation. Come on through." She then turned to Legalman Two Barker and once again said, "Thank you. Please make sure that you hold my calls for the next… no, wait until I get back to you, and let anyone who asks know that the SecNav is in a meeting until I say otherwise."

"Aye, aye, ma'am!"

Closing the door to her own office behind her, Tracy said, "That girl really is a treasure! I only hope I can take her with me when I leave."

Harm's eyebrows shot up to his hairline, "You? Leave the Pentagon? I thought you were here for life!"

"Oh, no, not hardly. Oh, don't get me wrong Harm. It's a damn good billet, the work is interesting and varied, even if it can be a bit high pressure at times, and a commander here ranks just about the same as a PO Two, but those few months at JAG reminded me that I am a lawyer, and an investigator, so I've been working the angles to get back there as a bona-fide JAG and not as the SecNav's snitch, and it looks as if I might finally have gotten my wish."

"Well, good for you. When does your new assignment take effect?"

"That, Mr Rabb, is not yet decided!" Tracy looked at her watch, "Excellent, two minutes to the hour. Now let me have a look at you!" She stepped back and gave him a quick inspection, "You'll do," she told him with a smile, and crossed to the door in the other side of the office. She knocked and waited until being told "Enter!"

Opening the door, she stepped inside and said clearly enough for Harm to hear, "Mister Secretary, Mister Rabb is here for his meeting!"

"Send him in Commander, send him in!"

Tracy stepped out of the office, and holding the door open, she said in invitation, "Mister Rabb?"

With a "Thank you, Commander," Harm entered the SecNav's office, and his back straightening instinctively he walked briskly to the front of Edward Sheffield's desk and automatically assumed a braced position.

Secretary Sheffield smiled, "Relax Mister Rabb, relax, please." You can take a man out of the navy he reflected, but it seems you can't take the navy out of the man, "Take a seat."

Harm sat, still none the wiser as to the reason he had been invited to meet with this politician. But it appeared that the SecNav was not about to waste much more time.

"Mister Rabb, I have here in front of me a full, un-redacted copy of your service record, not only for your years in the navy, but also the few months you worked for… Another Government Organisation. It makes remarkably interesting reading Mister Rabb. A very colourful and for the most part successful career, and yet, this last year and a half, it all went to hell, and buried you in a load of crap. Well, Mister Rabb, I have had some digging done, and at the bottom of all the crap that fell on you, I find the same initials cropping up time and time again, the initials of our friends at Langley, and of two men in particular.

"It appears, less the charge of attempting to murder Lieutenant Singer, you were finessed into resigning your commission, because one of those two individuals at Langley knew that you would do anything to rescue your partner, and that individual was aware that no military personnel would be allowed into Paraguay for a rescue attempt. It also appears that the agent in charge of that debacle was not completely honest either with Admiral Chegwidden, nor indeed his own superiors.

"But leaving that aside for the moment, I do not know what Admiral Chegwidden was thinking when he processed your resignation, and I understand from him that subsequent to your return, your successful return, from Paraguay, that certain things were said to you that should not have been said. I consider that you have been grossly mistreated, and as a result of that conclusion, I am offering to reinstate your commission, with the time you spent employed as a pilot for AGO credited to you service record as TAD, and the time since you left that organization as sick leave."

Harm was astounded. Yes, he'd hoped to be asked to rejoin the navy, but the terms he'd just been offered were more than generous. "Sir… I would like to rejoin, but…"

"But what, Commander?"

The use of his rank made Harm's heart skip a beat, but he also realised that by using his rank Sheffield was playing him. Schooling his face into an expressionless mask, he replied, "Sir, since I went to work for our friends at Langley, my personal circumstances have changed. My partner and I are three months off seeing the birth of our child, and I have just start proceedings to make us the legal guardians of a teenager. I have also just made, and had received, an offer on a house near DC. I'm sure you'll understand, sir, that the prospect of an assignment away from DC, or a deployment aboard ship would, at the moment make it very difficult for me to accept your offer. Your very generous offer."

"My God," Secretary Sheffield breathed, "I'm giving you an almost unheard of second chance, and you're telling me you won't take it unless _your_ conditions are met?"

Harm's heart sunk. He had just blown his chance of returning to the navy. Then to his surprise, Edward Sheffield, broke into a wheezing chuckle. "My Goddaughter was right! You have got brass ones! Is there anything else you need before you'll accept my offer?"

"Just the one thing, sir. I can't return to JAG."

That statement effectively put an end to the Secretary's amusement, "No, you can't, he agreed, to Harm's surprise, "Well not yet anyway. Even without it putting you in an intolerable position professionally - which it would - I am, not quite so unfeeling as to send you back to JAG while Colonel Mackenzie is still assigned there, let alone while she is Acting JAG."

Harm's mouth dropped open.

"Mister Rabb, or shall I call you 'Commander'? Either way, I am not so unfeeling as to send you back there under the current circumstances. But, those circumstances have persisted for far too long. Ted Lindsey's report while in many ways was a hatchet job, did contain one or two truths. A lot of the personnel at JAG, especially the attorneys, have been there far too long. In fact the entire JAG Corps, no matter where assigned seem to have become too accustomed to their billets. The billet I have in mind for you, is a three year assignment, here in the Pentagon, working for me, and replacing, and more than replacing Commander Manetti, who has expressed a wish to return to Jag to work as an attorney. And I think she's right, she does need to get back to trial law.

"As for you, It's a static billet, with no long lasting TADs, although there might be the occasional need to attend a conference out of town. You would not only be my resident expert on international and maritime law, advising me on general policy and individual cases where necessary, but you will also be my legal representative when it comes to dealing with service matters with the Joint Chiefs. And," he went on remorselessly, "there is also the matter I hinted at a few minutes ago, the reorganizing of the JAG Corps, so that the best possible people are in the right places. In addition you will be given the opportunity to retain your flight status, if you wish to do so. I saw that ZNN C-130 broadcast, Commander. It was impressive. It's a pretty heavy load I'm saddling you with, Commander, but I think you are up it. Are you?"

Harm stood, from the depths he had just plummeted to be offered this job at a time when he needed it so badly in order to settle his personal life almost beggared belief.

"Sir, Mister Secretary; yes, I am up to it!"

Edward Sheffield smiled, and pressed the intercom buzzer on his desk, "Commander Manetti, will you and Petty Officer Barker please step into my office, and bring the folder with you, thank you."

The door opened in seconds and the two women entered the office, Tracy Manetti passed a stiff blue folder to Secretary Sheffield, who placing a pair of reading glasses on his nose, opened it and said to Harm, "Raise your right hand and repeat after me…"

As Harm finished taking his renewed oath of service, his head was in so much of a whirl that he almost missed Sheffield's next words, "Congratulations Commander! Commander Manetti, in the absence of Commander Rabb's family, perhaps you would like to do the honours!"

Tracy's "Aye, aye, sir!" was, perhaps slightly more enthusiastic than protocol called for as she stepped quickly towards Harm and standing on tiptoe just about managed to plant a soft kiss on his cheek, and as she stepped back she smiled and said just loudly enough for him to hear, "I've wanted to do that ever since Naples!" and then aloud, "Congratulations, Commander!"

"Well Commander, I'll expect to see you here at eight am on Monday morning, ready in all respects to start your takeover from Commander Manetti. Commander Manetti, please be so good as to have Commander Rabb's credentials ready for him at that time, and waiting for him at entrance twelve-B." The SecNav then grinned as he said "Dismissed, Commanders!"


	11. Chapter 11

**11**

Harm was still not quite up to speed with what had just happened in the SecNav's office as Barker walked him out to the CP, where still in something of a daze he handed back his visitor's pass and signed out of the building, and headed out across the parking lot.

The sight of Mattie, apparently dozing in the passenger seat served as the first dose of reality as he unlocked the driver's door and settled behind the wheel.

Mattie who, despite the open book on her lap, had been listening with her eyes shut to the music stored on her I-Pod, felt the Lexus move as Harm climbed in, and detaching one of her ear-buds, she turned to him with a raised eyebrow and said, "Well?"

"Well, I know you weren't born to it," he answered, carefully choosing his words, "but if all goes according to plan, it looks like you're going to become a military brat…"

"So… I guess you're quitting the crop-dusting business?"

"Not until Friday, boss!" he grinned

Mattie nodded thoughtfully, "Yeah… I was going to have to let go all the pilots except maybe one, anyway... and probably a mechanic or two, as well…" she said sadly.

"Harm twisted in his seat and saw the troubled look on the teenager's face. "Well, you know, Catherine and I have been having a think about that sort of thing, and we've got one or two ideas to trot past you, this evening. So don't go firm on making any decisions until the three of us have talked this thing through, OK?"

Mattie nodded, and then gasped, "Oh… crap! I'm such a bitch… Oh, I'm so sorry! You said something about me getting to be a military brat… so I reckon that means you're back in the navy?"

"Umm… yeah. Yeah, I guess I am!" The reality of the situation suddenly broke over Harm, and his one-hundred megawatt smile lit up his face.

"Uh-huh, and I suppose that happy face means that is what you wanted, I guess?" Mattie still sounded a bit doubtful.

"Yes, Mattie, it really is." Harm looked at her soberly, "Is that OK with you?"

"I guess. If it's what you want, then congratulations!"

"Hey, don't sound so enthusiastic, squirt! Like I said, my being back in the service could really help our chances in court!"

"Yuh think?" she asked hopefully.

"Yeah. I think!" he said emphatically.

Mattie nodded, considering, "How long before you have to check-in with the navy?"

Harm smiled at her choice of words, "I have to report for duty at oh-eight hundred hours on Monday," he told her.

"Uh-huh… and when do you reckon we'll go to court… about you becoming my guardian, I mean?"

"That I don't know Mattie… I've never done this before, but I do know that there's lots of formalities to go through, interviews, home visits, and then there's the matter of the court finding a space in the calendar… I honestly don't know."

"So… what happens now, between you… going for duty, and us going to court?"

"Well… right now, I'm not sure… but I'm not going to just stick you on a shelf and wait for the day… either Catherine or I will call you every day, and I'll come down to Charlottesville at least once a week, just to keep an eye on you. And I'll figure out how to get someone, maybe a neighbour, just to watch over you while I'm not there…"

"You don't have to do this, Harm."

"Yeah, yeah I do, Mattie. I'm not leaving you to CPS. A few years ago I was involved in the case of a little girl - two little girls, really, twins - who were in the system, but they fell through the cracks. I didn't find out about them until it was too late for Annie, but I was in time to help Dar-Lyn. But I am not going to take the chance that you fall through the cracks. I said I'd take care of you and I will. OK?"

Mattie nodded again, her eyes still troubled.

Harm shook his head gently, "It's going to be a while before we get to the hospital, do you want to stop on the way, maybe get a sandwich and a shake?"

"Yeah, I guess." Mattie replied making a brave try to shake of the sudden doubts she had felt ever since Harm had returned to the car.

"Good girl. I know a place over in Seven Corners where I'm told the Double Chocolate Thick Shake is to die for!"

"Oh, yeah?" scoffed Mattie. "I never met a shake I didn't like, so bring it on," she hesitated and then with a shy smile added, "sailor!"

x-x-x-x-x

"Well, you won't be needing a dinner this evening!" Harm commented as he waited for Mattie to settle herself back into her seat and buckle her seat belt.

"How do you figure that out?" an intensely curious, and very much surprised Mattie replied.

"You had breakfast this morning, right?" Harm asked, taking Mattie's nod to signify assent.

"Then we had lunch."

"Yeah, if you call a handful of grass and a tomato, lunch!" Matte muttered rebelliously.

"Yes, I do," Harm agreed cordially, "especially when it comes with spicy rice, celery, eggs and smoked fish! And now you've just had a chicken sandwich and just about the biggest, thickest chocolate milk-shake I've ever seen!" Harm shuddered in pretended horror.

"Hey, what can I say?" Mattie protested, "Growing teenager here!"

"Yeah", Harm grinned, as he trod on the gas and the Lexus accelerated smoothly away from the lights at the entrance to the parking lot, "Growing outwards!"

"Are you saying I'm fat?" Mattie challenged him, her voice not quite hostile.

Harm grinned and looked across at the slim teenager now glaring at him, "Fat? You? Never! But you might want to cut down on the junk food a bit, not just to keep yourself slim, but to avoid clogging your arteries up with all sorts of cr.. uh... rubbish. You know, healthy eating?" he finished on a hopeful note.

Mattie giggled at Harm's near slip of the tongue, and then grinned cheekily, "Like I said, growing teenager here and junk food is practically compulsory for teenagers!"

Harm shook his head in mock-disbelief and turned his concentration back to the road for the rest of the fifteen minute drive to Pimmit Hills.

x-x-x-x-x

Turning into the parking lot at the Kresge Medical Centre, he turned to face Mattie once more, "Remember we're here so that Catherine's mother can meet you. Don't worry about putting on a front for her, you won't be able to keep it up, and that lady is as sharp as needle she'll see straight through any bu... uh… any smokescreen that you throw out. So act natural, be yourself…" he eyed her in some slight concern, "but maybe, just maybe, power down a bit on the over-active lever?" he suggested.

Mattie nodded her understanding, and then in a quiet voice asked, "What's wrong with Catherine's mom?"

Harm had been half-expecting this question, and he had several answers half-prepared; which one he used he'd figured depending on how the question was asked. "Catherine's mom is pretty sick. She's got a heart problem that keeps her in bed most of the time and under medical care all the time. But, she doesn't let that get her down. I just told you she's sharp, in fact, she's one the sharpest people I know. She's also got a great, if dry, sense of humour." He smiled remembering some of their humour and repartee filled conversations.

Mattie continued to look at him gravely, "She means a lot to you, doesn't she?" Mattie asked in a tone just as grave as her expression.

Harm looked across at her in mild amazement; he hadn't expected the mercurial girl in the passenger seat to be quite so perceptive. Making a quick recovery from his surprise he smiled gently and said simply, "Yes. Yes, she does."

Mattie drew a deep breath, "OK, I guess it's time I went and passed the inspection, huh?"

"No, Mattie, there's no inspection to be passed. Esther Gale is a wonderful, kind person… In some ways, the ways that count most, Catherine is very like her. Catherine likes you - a lot, and you like Catherine, right?"

"Yeah… of course, I like her - she's great… besides…"

"Besides, what?"

"Uh… nothing really… So, do I actually get to meet Catherine's mom at some stage this year?"

"Sure," Harm grinned, "let's get going squirt!" But as he walked with Mattie to the hospital entrance he wondered what she'd been about to say just before she changed her mind.

He still hadn't worked out what she might have been on the verge of saying when reaching Esther Gale's room, he knocked gently on the doorjamb before sticking his head around the frame to see to his surprise that Catherine was sitting reading a magazine, in a chair pulled up next to the bed, while Esther lay breathing gently with her eyes closed.

Catherine turned her head at Harm's knock and smiled, "Come on in," she said quietly, "Mom's just drifted off to sleep. I think she got tired of waiting for you!"

Harm groaned quietly at the pun, and shepherded Mattie in to the room, indicating that she should take the other chair while he propped himself against the window ledge.

"How is she today?" he asked equally quietly.

"She's… cyclical," Catherine replied with a slight frown, "When she's awake, she's like her old self, bright, alert… cheeky… but she gets tired quickly and nods off for a few minutes… I expect she'll wake up again soon and be as right as rain for a while."

Harm pulled a slight face and nodded to show his understanding.

Their words and byplay were not, however lost on Mattie, and she looked a little pale as she turned her attention from Catherine to her mother to Harm. However before she could say anything Esther Gale blinked twice as she awoke and as her vision came back into focus she smiled happily as she saw Harm leaning against the window sill.

"Commander!" she exclaimed joyfully, "What a lovely surprise! What are you doing here? Why aren't you cropping dust or something equally daring?"

"Good afternoon, Esther," Harm replied as he advanced and leaned over to place a kiss on Esther's cheek. "I'm not dusting crops this afternoon, 'cause my boss let me have the day off, but I think I've done something just as daring." He nodded towards Mattie, diverting Esther's gaze in that direction, "I've brought my boss to meet you!" He smiled encouragingly at Mattie as the teenager met the sharp, inquisitive, look that Esther turned upon her, and then stood uncertainly as Catherine interjected, "Mom, I'd like you to meet Mattie Grace, Harm's boss; Mattie, this is my mother, Esther Gale…"

Mattie smiled shyly and held out her hand, "Pleased to meet you, ma'am," she offered.

"Oh, and you too, child!" Esther exclaimed with real pleasure in both her eyes and voice. "Come here, so I can look at you! Catherine, I thought you said that you and Harmon were going to apply for legal guardianship of a child!" And then she won Mattie's heart, "But I don't think this young lady really needs a pair of guardians, she looks perfectly capable of looking after the both of you!"

"Mom!" Catherine protested, fearing that Esther's encouragement might make Mattie resistant to the idea of guardianship, but her protest was overridden by Harm's deep chuckle.

"Yeah, you got us Esther. This is all a cunning plan to put Mattie under an obligation to us, so that she can look after us in our old age - which, after all, is only just around the corner!" He accompanied his outrageous statement with an outrageously broad wink directed at the teenager, to ensure that she realised he was joking.

The success of his intervention was witnessed by Esther Gale's broad smile and by Mattie's crow of laughter, which she hastily smothered and then flashed a quick glance at Esther, followed by a guilty look at Harm. Esther's chuckle which followed as she observed this by-play was all that was needed to give the _quietus _to any lingering awkwardness.

Harm levered himself off the window sill and came to stand behind Catherine, reassuringly laying a hand on her shoulder. Catherine felt a sense of relief and settled back in her chair, smiling up at Harm, and covering his hand with her own, as Esther turned back towards Mattie and cocking her head said, "Come over here, Mattie, you can sit on the bed - if those jeans are clean - and let Harmon sit down." She lowered her voice and added in conspiratorial tones, "It gives me a crick in the neck to have to stare up at him all day; he's too damn tall!"

Mattie's face creased in a cheerful smile as she moved towards the bed and answered, "Yes, ma'am, he has that effect on me too sometimes!"

"H'mm, you know, that 'ma'am' you keep calling me, just doesn't seem to fit, it makes me sound old. I tell you what: I'll call you Mattie and… and you call me, Esther, OK?"

Mattie looked at her dubiously, "I don't know… it doesn't seem respectful… it doesn't seem right…"

"And why not, young lady? I don't want you to call me 'ma'am', and I'm certainly not about to have you go all formal and start calling me 'Mrs Gale' - when anybody calls that it reminds of my husband's mother," she continued in a mischievous aside, "and she was a terrible woman, she frightened me to death!" Esther paused as much to allow Mattie to giggle as for her own need to catch her breath, before she returned to their point of contention. "So, if I'm not Mrs Gale or ma'am and I'm not related to you, what else are you going to call me? And when all is said and done, Esther _is_ my name!"

Mattie looked doubtfully at Esther, and then in an unspoken request for guidance she turned to Harm, only to find that he and Catherine had moved away to the corner of the room and appeared totally absorbed in each other.

Harm softly asked Catherine, his voice shaded with concern, "What are you doing here so early?" He was well aware that the Kresge was also Catherine's Health Care provider for her pregnancy and delivery. "Is everything alright with Elizabeth?"

"Everything's fine, Harm don't worry." Catherine replied just as quietly, "I just called in to the office and took a personal day. I went down to Charlottesville first thing this morning and filed the application for our co-guardianship of Mattie, and I also filed a ninety day injunction against Tom Johnson preventing him from exercising his power of attorney over Grace Aviation." She shrugged, "Not that it will do much good, if the court can't get in contact with him to tell him. And that applies to the application I've made to the court for its revocation. Still it's got to be done! I… uh… also paid a brief visit to the CPA of record… and that needed to be done too!"

"Yeah it had," Harm replied, his eyes still dark with worry, as he raised his hand to cup her cheek, and gently ran his thumb along her cheek-bone, "But I wish you hadn't made that drive alone!"

Catherine reached up and held his hand in place while she pressed her face against it, "You worry too much. I keep telling you, I'm only pregnant, not made of glass!"

"I know, I know… I hover too much. But still…" he sighed.

"Yeah… I guess," Catherine agreed.

Esther followed the young girl's eyes and smiled, "Yes, they look good together don't they? And better, they look happy too!"

"Yes, ma'a…"

"Mattie!"

Mattie smiled, shrugged her shoulders and surrendered, "Yes, Esther, they look pretty good."

"Well?" Harm asked taking a quick glance back across the room in the direction of the bed and, smiling down at Catherine, "What's the verdict, counsellor?"

Catherine cast a quick glance sideways at the sight of her mother arguing with the teenager, "Yes, it's going well, it's early days yet, but they seem to like each other…"

"H'mm… yeah, they do… but do you want to bet who'll win that argument? Mattie's got some pretty strong notions about what's right and fitting!"

"H'mmm… maybe, but mom's pretty damn stubborn herself… and she's got experience on her side! She's had to deal with Donnie all his life…"

"Oh, yes, of course. But, then again, she had you as well, but I don't suppose you ever even attempted to contradict her, did you?"

Catherine eyed him dubiously. It was difficult to judge, from his expression, whether he was being serious, or whether he was teasing her. After a few seconds thought while she searched his face for a clue, she decided that he had been teasing her, and responded in kind. "Me, argue with my mother? Of course not!"

Unfortunately for Catherine not only was Harm not deceived by her protestation of innocence, but Esther and Mattie had dropped into a momentary silence, and Catherine's words, although softly spoken, carried clearly across the room. Both Harm and Esther stared at her for a moment or two with almost identical expressions of staged disbelief on their faces, before they exclaimed simultaneously, "Catherine!"

The look of chagrin on Catherine's face and the identical stress and tone of Harm and Esther's interjection was too much for Mattie, who burst out into a giggle, which set both Harm and Esther chuckling, and after a moment when her face flamed red, Catherine was forced to follow suit, protesting to Mattie through her laughter, "What did I tell you about making me laugh!"

Mattie only giggled the more, as Harm stopped halfway across the room as he supported Catherine back towards her chair, "Are you OK?" he asked, concern evident in his voice.

"What?" a surprised Catherine replied, and then, "Oh, yes, of course! Yes, I was just reminding Mattie about the perils of laughing while pregnant." And then as Harm's face still failed to register any comprehension, she sighed, "It's nearly a two hundred feet waddle to the bathroom in case of emergency!" she explained.

"Oh… yeah… right…" Harm mumbled, blushing; he had carefully tuned out that part of last Sunday's conversation, as he resumed helping Catherine back into her chair. His reticence was seen by all three women who reacted with indulgent smiles and pitying head-shakes.

x-x-x-x-x

"OK, people, let's settle down shall we?" Harm suggested as the giggling between Catherine and Mattie threatened to get out of hand. The two women at once adopted over attentive attitudes, moving to the forward edges of their chairs and looking sat him with expectant faces.

Despite what Harm considered the huge amount of ground they needed to cover this evening, he couldn't entirely suppress a grin as he took a seat on the couch next Catherine and growled, "OK, you two clowns, knock it off. This is serious. Mattie, Catherine and I have gone through the company books, and unless something is done pretty damn quick, then you're going to lose the company, and your home with it!"

Mattie's eyes filled with tears, which she angrily wiped away with the cuff of her sweatshirt, and in a gruff little voice, said, "Harm, we can't let that happen… the company, the house… they were mom's…," the pitch of Mattie's voice changed as her emotions changed from fear to anger, "They're all I've got left of her… And I'm not going to lose them too because of him!"

Harm and Catherine exchanged a look of understanding and Harm fell silent as Catherine took over their end of the conversation, "Well, we're hoping too, that won't happen. And we think we've got a couple of ideas that might let the company have enough breathing time to recover. But we need you to listen carefully to what we are going to say, and if there is anything that you don't understand, then you've got to tell us that, so we can go over it again, and again, and again, if need be, until you are happy that you do understand, OK?"

Mattie nodded, and Catherine shooting another glance at Harm took a breath and continued, "What the company is in urgent need of is capital; that is, money. Not money that is raised by a loan, and that has to be repaid at interest, but money to that is invested in the company, by people who would expect a share of the profits, once the company starts making money again. Do you understand that, Mattie?"

Mattie sat still for a minute, "Yeah, but how would that work?" she asked doubtfully.

Catherine took a piece of paper and wrote down a figure. "That is what your books and your bank and your CPA all roughly agree is what the company is worth. Now, if we divide this figure by a hundred, we end up with this new figure. That figure represents the value of one per cent of the company, so let's call that a share. You can form a partnership by selling off some of these shares to other people…"

"Sell part of the company!" Mattie exclaimed angrily, "I'm not going to let the company go! It ain't gonna happen! Find some other way!"

"Power down, Mattie," Harm soothed her, "and hear us out." He took up the argument, not wanting Catherine to appear as the bad guy, "Nobody's saying you lose the company. Look, whoever owns fifty-one per cent has the controlling interest, what we're suggesting is that you sell off forty per cent of the company - with a buy back option - so you keep firm control of sixty per cent, the company is still yours, you're still the boss."

"M'mm…" Mattie seemed to be giving the matter some thought. "But what happens… if the company doesn't make a profit, and these other people want out?"

"Well, we set up conditions so that if they want to sell their shares, they have to offer them to you first."

"Yeah, OK, but what if I don't got the money, if the company isn't making a profit?"

"Well, that's what people mean when they say that value of investments can fall as well as rise. The only reason for people to bail out is because the value of their investment has gone down too far, and if that's the case then probably the only person wanting to buy those shares would be you."

"Yeah… but the company ain't making money right now, so who would want to buy right now… except for me?" Mattie asked, managing to find a weak grin at the end of her sentence.

"Well, now," Harm said expansively, "I'd be willing to buy… say… ten per cent… and I know a guy who might be prepared to buy the other thirty per cent…

Mattie looked at him, at first she had looked hopeful, and then as she started to figure things out, her expression changed to one of suspicion, "Why would you want to buy into a company that's headed down the toilet?"

"Because, Mattie, I have faith in the company, I have faith in you. Hell, if it hadn't been for that damn' loan, you wouldn't be in trouble now. You wouldn't be in easy street, but you wouldn't be in a mess. And I figure with good management, and a rest from having to cut the electricity use to pay the fuel bills, the company will do alright. With good management!"

Mattie scowled, "That's the second time you've said that! What are you up to?"

"Mattie, you're going to have to go back to school, and you won't be able to do that and run the company. So we need to find someone with aviation savvy and who can satisfy the FAA licensing regulations to be able to run the company for you. To be your hands-on guy at Blacksburg, while you can't be."

"Oh, yeah, scoffed Mattie, where are you going to find someone with those qualifications, who'd be willing to take on that job for what I can't pay… Oh, you've already found someone, haven't you? All this was just a set up!"

"Well, Mattie, no. It wasn't a set up," Catherine chimed in. "We've thought of somebody to be the manager, but we haven't said anything to anyone."

"Just the same way I haven't said anything to the guy who might be willing to invest. Like I said earlier, we don't do anything without your say-so. Hey, I might be back in the navy, but as far as Grace Aviation is concerned, you are still, and will still always be the boss!" Harm said earnestly but with an encouraging smile.

Mattie who had had little reason recently to trust the adults in her world looked at them both, wanting them to have been straight with her but still half-afraid of trusting them, gulped, and then asked as would a child, "Honest?"

They both nodded, "Yes, Mattie, honest."

"OK..." she said doubtfully, "Can we give it a try?"

"Of course we can, honey," Catherine held out her arms and Mattie lid of her chair onto her knees and allowed Catherine to hold her, as she fought back tears of something she was not really certain of: relief, sadness, happiness, or some other emotion.

Harm gave a nod of approval, unseen by either Catherine or Mattie and got to his feet, digging his cell 'phone out of his pocket. Hitting a speed-dial number, he waited for the answer across the other side of the continent.

"_Burnett."_

"Hi, Frank, it's Harm, is mom home yet?"

"_Hello, son... No, not yet, why_?"

"Uh... I've got some news... several bits of news really, and I figure that I'd best tell you first, because if I start to try and tell mom over the 'phone things are going to get..."

"_Complicated?"_

"Uh... well... more complicated." Harm confessed with a grin at Catherine and Mattie who had just become aware that he was talking on the 'phone.

"_OK, son, I'm sitting down. Hit me."_

"Well, it's been kinda a busy day... First off, Catherine and I are buying a house on the edge of Vienna, up by Tyson's Corner."

"_Yeah, we kind of worked out that was going to happen, that apartment of yours is no place for a baby, nor that neighbourhood any place for a child to grow up! Is that it?_"

"Um... no. I've been reinstated back in the navy, and I report for duty on Monday morning."

"_Well! That's fantastic... or is it? Are you back at Falls Church_?"

"Um... no. I can't go back to Falls Church for a while. The Admiral resigned, so if I go back it'll seem..."

"_Yeah... it would. So where..._?"

"The Pentagon. Working directly for the SecNav."

Catherine looked up in surprise at that, although a hasty conversation in the parking lot at Pimmit Hills had let her know that Harm was indeed back in the navy, their focus since arriving at her apartment had been on Mattie and the financial questions concerning Grace Aviation. Catherine bit her lip, she wasn't totally sure that working so closely with the SecNav was something that Harm, with his highly developed sense of right and wrong, was something that he could or should be doing.

"_Ah... how's that going to work out?_"

Harm grinned, somewhat mirthlessly, "I'll let you know when - and if - it does."

"_You have reservations_?"

"A few, but we'll see..."

"_Yeah. Well. You sure said a mouthful, son_."

"Umm..." Harm hesitated and looked over again at Catherine and Mattie, "Uh... I've not quite done yet, Frank"

Frank was silent for a few seconds, which to Harm seemed to stretch into minutes before he said "_And...?"_

"Uh... I kinda... saved the best 'til last."

"_Stop beating about the bush, Harm. What_?"

"Uh... Catherine and I, we sort of... filed for the guardianship of a teenage girl today..."

The silence in La Jolla was deafening in Georgetown, until Frank drew a ragged breath and said, "_How do you mean you sort of filed..._"

"Yeah, well we did. We filed for the..."

"_No. No. Do not repeat that, if I don't hear it again, I might be able to plead plausible deniability. Harm, you don't really expect me to tell your mother that, do you? Have a heart son; I have to live with her_!"

"Well, I was kinda hoping..."

"_Uh-uh, forget, Harm. I'll tell her you called, and that you want her to call you back because you have some news for her. I am not putting my head in that lion's mouth_!"

"Oh... OK... but before you go, Frank, I have an investment opportunity for you: a thirty per cent share in a business with a lot of potential, once we get it under proper management."

"_Harm..."_

"I'm serious Frank. If I had the money to buy both the house and the whole forty per cent option, I'd do it. As it is, I'm in for ten per cent."

Frank was quiet again for few seconds before he spoke again. "_OK, fax me a copy of this company's latest quarterly figures, and a business plan, and I'll look them over._"

"Yeah, will do. And Frank, there's one more thing."

"_Go on_." Frank's voice was rich with resignation.

"You're still in the property market back here, aren't you?"

_"Yes... why?"_

"Umm... there's a domestic mortgage I'd like you take a look at, with a view to taking it over..."

Frank chuckled grimly at that, "_Are you sure you don't want a pound of flesh from nearest my heart, too?_"

"I couldn't Frank. We all know that belongs to mom!"

This time Frank's chuckle held real amusement, "_Yeah, it does, doesn't it? Well, I'll pass on most of your news to your mom, but there is still no way that I'm going to tell her about the guardian thing_."

"I'd call you a coward, if I wasn't afraid of her myself!"

"_Right back at you, Harm. Talk to you soon_!"

"Yeah, 'bye Frank!"

Harm turned to Catherine and Mattie who had huddled together on the couch and had been listening to his side of the conversation round-eyed and open-mouthed. "That went well, I thought." He quipped, but unable to completely hide the relief he felt.

"Gee, ya think?" queried Mattie.

"Yeah, I do, squirt. Now, get back over there where you belong and let me snuggle up to my girlfriend here!"

Mattie scowled but did as she was asked, "No full on displays of affection, please. I don't want to be scarred for life by watching you oldies make out!" she commented with a grin as she sat cross-legged in the armchair, a cushion hugged to her stomach.

"H'mmm," Catherine mused, fixing Mattie with a stare, "That sounds like bed with no dinner to me!" She cocked her head up to face Harm, "What do you think?" she asked him.

"I think, that we ought to her slide - this time."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, it's her first evening with us, and we haven't yet explained to her how rude it is to accuse you of being old..."

"Me?" Catherine interrupted indignantly, as Mattie sniggered, "It was you she was talking about!"

"H'mm, we're not going to agree on this, are we?" Harm asked.

"I shall treat that as a rhetorical question!" Catherine stated with immense dignity, before changing the subject, "Now have we decided what we're having for dinner?"

"Pizza?" Mattie suggested hopefully.

"After what you ate today?" Harm raised an eyebrow, "I don't think so! What do you fancy, Catherine?"

"Nothing too spicy... Thai.. no... that is too spicy... Italian... no...Chinese? There's a menu of the fridge door..."

"I'll get it!" Mattie volunteered and disappeared into the kitchen.

Catherine and Harm looked at each other, "This guardian thing is going to be interesting," Catherine remarked with the air of someone commenting on the weather.

"Oh, yeah!" Harm agreed as Mattie burst back into the room.

The next fifteen minutes were spent in deciding on the exact make-up of their order and 'phoning it in to Catherine's favourite Chinese restaurant just a couple of blocks away on O Street. The order placed, Harm turned to Mattie and said, "Getting ready for the guardianship court hearing, Matts, we are going to have to look at getting you into a school...No, don't pull a face. It's got to happen. If we can show that you are provisionally registered with a school in the area near the house, which I'll take you to see tomorrow, it will go a long way toward showing that we're taking this thing seriously." He looked across at Mattie's unhappy face, "Mattie, it's going to happen, whether you come to us, or whether CPS take you into the system. I know you don't like the sound of it, kiddo, but this time there's no way around, you just gotta suck it up!"

"Yeah, I s'pose. But..." she glared at the two of them, "I don't have to like it!"

"H'mm. Mattie what did you like at your previous school?" Catherine asked.

"Well I was pretty damn... uh... darn good at volleyball, and I was on the swim team. That was cool."

"Uh-huh, and what about_ in_ class?"

"Well... I was pretty good at math and chemistry and physics... but I pretty well sucked at English, especially lit... the rest were OK I guess..."

Mattie was spared any further grilling by the entry buzzer announcing the arrival of their meal. Harm dived into his wallet and produced two twenties, and handing them to Mattie said, "Go get 'em, tiger!"

Waiting until the teenager had disappeared on her way down to the lobby, Catherine turned to Harm and asked, "Well... all things considered, that wasn't too bad, to borrow a phrase. I guess I should call Beth tomorrow?"

Harm nodded. "Yeah... I think she's the right one for the job. Besides, there's that twin engine beast sitting idle in the Hangar, and I shouldn't be at all surprised if Beth is rated for it, and that should generate extra income. The DC area is always short of small charter aircraft and with an ex-navy pilot..."

"And OGA, don't forget," Catherine interrupted with a smile.

"True," Harm acknowledged, "we might even get a transport contract with the government, say the DoD for example..."

Any further machinations were put to an end by Mattie's re-appearance bearing two brown paper sacks containing dinner. Catherine saw to their meal's careful re-heating in the microwave, while Harm and Mattie set the table. Catherine mildly surprised Harm by opening a bottle of Muscadet to accompany his prawns in black bean sauce, while she and Mattie shared a bottle of sparkling cider.

The meal over and done with, Harm insisted that Catherine relax on the couch while he and Mattie policed the dining area and kitchen. And as they stood at the sink, Harm up to his elbows in suds and Mattie drying the plates, he turned to her and asked, "Mattie, are you sure you're OK with Catherine and me just walking into your life and taking over?"

Mattie carefully put down the plate she'd been drying, and looked squarely at him, "Harm, if you keep on doing what you've been doing then it's OK I guess... Yeah there are probably going to be times when I get pis... uh... ticked off at you. But from what my friends at school told me, that's kinda normal, you know?"

Harm sighed, "No, Mattie, I don't know, and I guess that's kinda why I'm asking you. I've never done this before, so I guess what I'm saying is that when I make mistakes, and I surely will, then don't beat on me too much..."

"Yeah, well I've never had a real family before either," Mattie said shyly, "An' I know I'm going to foul up, so I guess we'll have to learn to forgive each other, right?"

Harm reached out with a sudsy hand, despite Mattie's squeal of protest, ruffled her already wild hair, "I knew you were a smart kid," he smiled, "but until just now, I didn't realise just how smart!"

Mattie turned scarlet and muttered something inaudible before she looked up at him her heart in her eyes. It was at that instant that Harm realised that what he had at initially seen as a duty of care, had somehow, somewhere along the line, turned into love.

Neither of them, capable of more words at that instant, smiled at each other and in silence turned back to finishing the kitchen work.

As they walked back into the living room Catherine looked across at them and saw that something between them had changed, where they had always, to her eyes, seemed to be comfortable with each other, now they seemed to be more... right together.

"Come on you two, come and sit down, and relax with me. Mattie, do you want to watch TV?"

"Umm... no thanks, Catherine, if it's alright with you, I'd like to try and get on with this book I've got. It's pretty good, it's called _Anna Karenina_, it's by some Russian guy..."

Catherine was surprised; she struggled upright from her slouch and said, "I thought you didn't like literature?"

"Huh?" Mattie replied elegantly, "Oh, we never got really cool books like this in lit, we got weird stuff, like _Lord of the Flies_ and a lot, and I mean a lot," she rolled her eyes exaggeratedly, "of really boring stuff by an English writer, Charles Dickens! Man was he depressing!"

Catherine bit her lip in an effort to keep back her amusement, "And Tolstoy's not depressing?" she asked, not entirely able to hide the quiver in her voice.

"No, he's not," Mattie's forehead furrowed in thought, "Not in the same way. I mean, yeah he's pretty dark in some places, but not overall as depressing as the other guy. Like it's the difference between a sudden shower and a whole day filled with rain and dark grey clouds?"

Catherine poured them all a further drink, before she snuggled back into the circle of Harm's arm. ""You know," she said to him, "Our girl is pretty damn' smart!"

"Yeah I noticed that earlier!" he agreed with a smile that encompassed them both.

Mattie's heart had leaped at Catherine's words, not at being described as being smart, but because Catherine had called her 'our girl' without the slightest sound of hesitation.

However they were not to be left in peace for long, Mattie had hardly got through five or six pages and neither Harm, nor Catherine had yet finished their freshened drinks when Harm's cell 'phone announced that the outside world required at least some of his attention. With a sigh, he unlooped his arm from around Catherine's shoulder and dug into his pocket for the 'phone. He checked the caller ID display, grimaced and just said "Mom" before opening the 'phone.

"Hi, mom!" he said cheerfully.

_"Harmon, hello darling, Frank said you called earlier and said that you had some news for us."_

"Yes mom, I do; did he tell you about the house?"

_"Yes he did! And it's about time you moved out of that apartment, with that wonky elevator. How did you expect Catherine to cope with that, a baby and groceries?"_

"We didn't mom, that's one of the reasons we decided to go house hunting, together. Now did Frank tell you that I've gone back into the navy?"

Trish's voice lost its edge of motherly exasperation and instead became loaded with maternal concern, "_Yes, he did, darling. Are you sure that's what you want?"_

"Yes, mom. It's come at an important time for me. I... I've got responsibilities coming up, and a regular pay packet and a secure job is what I really need right now."

_"OK, son. If that's your reason, and you're happy, then I'm happy with it too. But Frank said something about you not being able to be at Falls Church because you'd get the blame for the admiral leaving the navy?"_

"Yeah, mom, I know it sounds dumb, and it is dumb, but if I went back there now, it would be seen as a slap in the face of every Admiral in the navy. I'm happy with my new billet at the Pentagon, as I said it's going to provide stability just when I need it."

_"Alright then darling, that's good. But Frank said you some more news for me?"_

Harm drew a breath. "Mom did I ever mention Mattie to you? She's my crop-dusting boss. Well she's just fifteen years old, her mom died earlier this year in a car wreck, and her dad's completely dropped off the radar. Since then she's been living alone, and trying to run her mom's business. Well so far she's managed to avoid being noticed by CPS and the FAA, but that can't last for long. So to try and stop her getting swallowed up by the system Catherine and I have applied to become her legal guardians."

_"Oh, Harm! Isn't that just like you! I guess I must have done something right when I raised you. Your dad would be so proud of you! If you're sure you're doing the right thing, and it sounds to me that you are, then Frank and I are behind you all the way, what is you used to say to your RIOs, 'to hell and back', wasn't it?"_

Harm felt an unexpected tingle in his eyes, "Yeah, mom, he said softly, that's what we used to say..."

_"Well, Frank and I shall be back east in the next two to three weeks, we'll let you know when the itinerary is set. Until then darling, just remember I'm proud of you, and I love you!"_

"I love you too mom," Harm said in wondering voice and waited for the click that told him his mother had disconnected the call.

"Harm, are you alright," Catherine asked him worriedly.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm fine. That was my mom," he explained unnecessarily.

"Duh... Yeah we got that much," Mattie smirked.

"Yeah? Well get this Miss Smarty Pants; she's coming back east, all the way from La Jolla, just to meet the pair of you!" That wasn't quite true, she was coming back east to accompany Frank on one of his business trips, but neither Catherine nor Mattie needed to know that at the moment, besides, after the tail spin his mom's reaction to his news had thrown him into, he reckoned that he was justified in nudging Catherine and Mattie a little off balance too!

He had succeeded it seems beyond his wildest dreams. Mattie closed her book and turned to Catherine, "I... I'm feeling a bit tired. Today's been pretty crammed full of stuff... is it alright if I go to bed now?"

"Of course it is! I showed you where everything is earlier, but if you need anything else, just holler."

"Yeah, thanks... I will."

"And don't forget to stick your head back around the door to say goodnight," Harm admonished her.

"No... No, I won't"

Harm reached for the bottle and re-filled his wine glass, sitting back with a sigh and raising his arm to allow Catherine to rest her head in the hollow of his shoulder.

"I take it then, that your talk with your mom went well?" she asked teasingly as she raised her face to his.

"Yes, yes it did," he smiled at her, pausing to kiss her gently, "In fact it went so well, it almost scared me!"

"Well that calls for another drink!" Catherine stated reaching for the Muscadet.

"No... I can't... I've still got to drive home. In fact..." he put his half full glass down on the coffee table, "I probably shouldn't drive now. I'd best get some coffee on and wait for an hour or so..."

"No. If you're not fit to drive, then you don't drive," Catherine told him seriously with a nod towards the bathroom where Mattie could be heard singing.

"Yeah... I'd best call a cab..."

"No, don't do that. By the time you've paid for a cab for tonight and then back in the morning, it'll end up costing you an arm and leg. Why don't you stay here for the night?"

"Well, Mattie's got your spare room, and this couch is way too short for me, Catherine..."

Catherine stopped him speaking by the simple expedient of kissing him on the lips, "So, you share with me," she told him matter of factly.

"Whut?"

"Harm, we're going to be living together in a few weeks, or did you think that once we'd moved into our new house that we were going to have separate bedrooms."

"Well... I guess..."

"Forget it buster! It's not going to happen. You said we were in this together for the next eighteen years, at least. Well if we're in it together, as far as I'm concerned that means together - all the way!"


	12. Chapter 12

**12**

Harm slid gently and quietly out of bed. Catherine's invitation, or rather her instruction, to him to share her bed, he reflected, had been quite a surprise. She had almost been right about him not expecting to share a bed with her when they moved to their new home, but it wasn't that he had discounted the idea, it was more that he hadn't really considered it. He supposed that he'd thought, if he had thought about the matter at all - and he wasn't quite sure of that, either - that they were forming some sort of _liaison de convenance_. But from her words last night, it should seem that Catherine definitely had other ideas. True, she hadn't made any moves on him during the night, and for that he was grateful; even this morning he was still very uncertain as to how he would have reacted. Her nightdress was plain white cotton and had covered her neck to ankles and she had seemed to be more than content to just lie next to him, her head resting in its accustomed spot in the hollow of his shoulder and her hand resting lightly on his chest. Of course they'd both shifted during the night and he had awoken this morning to find himself lying on his side, as was Catherine, and with his chest pressed against her back and his arm resting on her waist, his hand lying against her baby bump.

He stood for a moment watching the still-sleeping Catherine and smiled at the way she had pulled one of the pillows down the bed to rest her swollen stomach against, or on… he couldn't quite decide which, but the sight of her sleeping peacefully made him smile and gave him a feeling of… well being, he supposed it was.

Moving as quietly as he could, he made his way to the bathroom, and investigating the closet there found a stack of clean towels, and with a grin, as he remembered Catherine's words from last night, he appropriated one of them for his temporary use, after all, as she'd said, they were in this thing together!

Showered and refreshed, although still unshaven, he finished dressing in the bathroom before heading for the kitchen to make tea for all three of them, and while the kettle boiled he rapped sharply on the door to Mattie's temporary bedroom, knocking and calling until he heard her respond, and then kept on knocking until a bleary-eyed and rumple-haired teenager opened the door and scowled at him.

"What?" she demanded in uncompromising tines.

"Time to get up, squirt," he smiled at her.

Mattie rubbed her eyes, hitched up her pyjama pants and squinted at her watch, "Harm! It's only six forty!" she protested in a wail.

"Wow! That late already, c'mon Mats, you need to get in and out of the shower before Catherine wants it. I'll get some toast on for breakfast while you're in there!"

Mattie gave him a glance that opened up a whole new level of his understanding of the phrase 'if looks could kill,' before she somewhat sulkily stomped past him on her way to the bathroom, leaving Harm slowly shaking his head and with a grin on his face as he turned back towards Catherine's room.

Harm lowered himself as gently and as smoothly as possible on the side of the bed and then leaned in to give Catherine a kiss on the cheek, while he smoothed her blonde hair with his free hand. Catherine murmured something inaudible and squirmed a little as she began to swim back up from the depths of sleep to the surface that was awake. Harm kissed her again, and then smiled as she turned onto her back and changed his target, capturing her lips in a gentle kiss.

Catherine's eyes fluttered open and after a second or two as she sought to focus, she saw Harm's smiling face close to hers. Just for a few seconds she saw past his barriers and through his eyes into his heart, and if what she saw was not love, but a deep affection, there was no reason why his affection shouldn't turn to love in time…and although her heart gave her a little pang, she fought back her tears and fears and smiled in return,"Good morning, sailor," she said in a hushed voice.

"Hullo, you," he smiled in return. "It's time to get up. Mattie's in the shower and there's a pot of tea waiting for your attention."

"Well…" Catherine drawled, "A girl could get used to this sort of treatment in the morning… I think I'll get you to stay over more often…"

"Or, maybe, you could stay over at my place once in a while…?" Harm left the question hanging.

Catherine smiled gently, "Yes… I like the sound of that…" and eyed Harm expectantly, feeling a rush of pleasure as he nodded and broadened his smile.

"Well, it's no use the pair of us just sitting here, grinning at each other like idiots," Catherine sighed. "If you've made tea, I suppose it ought to be drunk while it's still hot!" She struggled upright and swung her feet over the edge of the bed as Harm stood to give her room to manoeuvre and then stood hands out ready to take hers and help her to her feet.

In just under half an hour later Harm was shepherding Mattie into his SUV as he prepared to follow Catherine's Malibu Max to the Yorktown Swimming Club. "So, where are we going this time?" a still-grumpy teenager asked Harm.

"We're following Catherine to the swimming pool, and then she'll head off to work, while we head on down to Charlottesville." Harm said grinning at the pout of discontent on Mattie's face. "I still need to earn a living, he grinned, while you, young lady still have a business to run!" he added shrewdly.

"Yeah…" Mattie's voice lost it truculent edge and she turned an anxious face to Harm, "But for how much longer?"

"Well, Mattie, Catherine's going to draw up a legal document today, transferring ten per cent of the company to me, and the second that's done and completed, I'll pay into the company account the value of that ten percent. That should give you enough working capital to pay your immediate bills, and keep the utility company off your back. We'll also talk to the Albemarle County people, and explain what's happening, and ask them to give us a little more time to pay. And if Frank, agrees to buy in, then all our immediate problems will be solved…"

"Frank?" Mattie queried.

"Yeah, my step-dad. I spoke to him last night, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember," Mattie nodded, and then asked "Do you always call him Frank?"

Harm was surprised, "Yeah, of course I do. It's his name. What else would I call him?"

"Oh… I dunno… it's just… it just seems strange… I thought you'd call him… Oh, I dunno… maybe dad?"

Harm gave her a level look, "Mattie, my dad's dead and buried in Russia. Frank is mom's second husband, and a good man, a very good man. But he is not my dad."

Mattie nodded, "OK…" and then returning to the original topic of conversation, "But about the company?"

"Well, you may have to lay off a mechanic, and I suspect the crop-dusting pilots know that the season is coming to an end, so you could let all of them go too."

"That sucks!"

"Yeah it does. But Mattie, you're a good boss to work for, and those guys knew going in that there was no off-season work for them."

"Yeah… I s'pose. But what happens if I need a pilot?"

"Well, if the need doesn't clash with my duties, then I'm available, and if Beth - the woman that Catherine's going to speak with today about the manager's job - agrees to come on board, she's a pilot too - and is cleared to fly more types than I am - in fact it wouldn't surprise me if she wasn't cleared on that Cessna you've got under wraps. It'd be good to have that earning some money instead it just sitting there showing depreciation on the books!"

"Yeah, that wouldn't hurt," Mattie grinned as Harm pulled into the Yorktown Swimming Club parking lot.

xii-xii-xii-xii-xii

Mattie stood watching as Catherine and Harm exchanged a brief, but slightly more than formal good bye kiss before Harm helped Catherine into her car and stood watching as she accelerated out of the parking lot and turned right, heading for Langley.

"She's good." Mattie declared decisively as she came to stand next to Harm.

"Oh? In what way?" he asked, surprised by the apparent unconnected nature of her statement.

"In the water," Mattie explained, "She's a damn' good swimmer!"

"And how would you know that?" Harm teased her.

"Don't patronize me, buster," she warned him, although with a grin creasing her face as she looked up at him, "School swim team, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember," Harm nodded, his expression becoming thoughtful. "Tell you what, let's go look at the house, and then let's find somewhere that we - I - can grab a coffee and you can have a glass of milk."

Mattie gave him what could only be described as an old-fashioned look, and said, "Uh… believe it or not Harm, I'm fourteen, not four years old. I do drink coffee…"

Harm looked at her, not quite convinced. He hadn't started drinking coffee until he'd got to the academy, and there with the all nighters needed to complete the tough course of study on op the military aspects of the course, it had been a necessary evil, and hadn't he heard or read somewhere that coffee wasn't good for still-growing teenagers? He'd have to check that one out, but in the meantime…

"I don't think that's such a good idea, Mats. Let's stick to tea, milk or water for a while, hey?"

Mattie cast her eyes up to the heavens. She'd recognised what she had come to think of as Harm's mulish voice, and relinquished the battle, temporarily that is. Once she'd enrolled Catherine on her side the struggle would become much easier!

So, sighing in apparent defeat, Mattie climbed into the front seat of the SUV and buckled her seat belt. Nodding his head in satisfaction, Harm turned the key in the ignition and within seconds the SUV was on the road for Tyson's Corner and then Vienna.

Mattie had been determined to remain coolly unimpressed by the visit to what she hoped would be her new home, fully intending to answer questions as to how she liked it with a shrug and a 'yeah, it's OK, I guess'. The reality however was far different from the reaction she had planned. As Harm halted the SUV in front of the house, he said, "Well, squirt, this is it!"

Mattie took one look and gasped, "Oh, wow! It's freaking huge!"

"Well, not huge, Mattie, but big enough for our needs. Catherine and I both need an office, and then we need four bedrooms…"

"Four?" a puzzled Mattie interrupted.

"Yeah, there's you, and Catherine and I need somewhere to sleep, and then we need a nursery, and a guest room. Unless…" he grinned mischievously at Mattie.

"Unless what?" she demanded her senses on high alert.

"Unless you want to share with the baby, after all it shouldn't take more than six months for her to start sleeping right through the night. And of course you couldn't have a TV or music in the room, and then for first six months you'd have to get used to Catherine coming in two or three times a night to feed her and…"

"OK, OK, enough already! I get it!" Mattie dissolved into giggles, "We need a big house. Because there is no way, repeat, no way I am gonna share my room with a baby!" Then a sudden afterthought struck her. "Ummm… Harm? How many bathrooms has it got?"

"Believe it or not, Mattie, three and a half!" Harm grinned at the blissful smile that swept over Mattie's face.

"Uh huh, and how are they laid out? I mean are they all just one on each floor or what?"

"Well two of the main bedrooms have their own bathroom _en-suite_, that means there's a door leading directly from the bedroom to the bathroom; the main bathroom is on the second floor, and the half is down stairs off the lobby."

"Can I get dibs on one of the bedrooms with a bathroom?"

"Oh… I don't know, Mattie. We were kind of figuring to keep the other bed/bathroom combo as the guest room…" Harm carefully kept his face averted from Mattie until after he'd answered her.

"Oh… yeah, makes sense…" Mattie replied. She'd tried but failed to completely hide the disappointment in her voice, but as Harm turned to look at her, her face and body posture told him how much she'd anticipated having her own little enclave within the house.

"But, you know? You might be right, Mattie. You might need your own private bathroom. Catherine and I will think about it, and let you know before we move in, OK?"

"No… no... it's OK, Harm…" Mattie protested half-heartedly, but the sudden gleam in her eye told Harm a very different story.

xii-xii-xii-xii-xii

"So dear, how was your day?" Catherine asked from the comfort of the couch while Harm busied himself with pots, pans, chopping boards and knives.

Harm and Catherine had met at Kresge, where they had spent an hour with Esther, who couldn't quite conceal her disappointment that Mattie wasn't with them today.

Harm put down the knife he'd been using to julienne a couple of carrots and leaned on the work-top, grinning at Catherine's use of the old cliché. "It went pretty well, all the way from where we left you at Yorktown, right up until we got down to Charlottesville," he said heavily.

"What happened?" she asked anxiously as she struggled upright against the embrace of the couch. "

A pile of mail waiting for Mattie," Harm replied, "including a final demand or appear in court from the electricity company. I managed to persuade her to let me pay that one on my card, the cost to be deducted from the purchase sum of the ten percent.

"Well, I've got the papers for the transfer of stock drawn up, they just need yours and Mattie's signature, and then you will be part owner of Grace Aviation and Crop Dusting."

"M'mm… that's good. Quick work, thank you, but don't let this stuff sidetrack you from your real job, or you'll be looking for a new one!"

"No," Catherine said scornfully and then chuckled, "I'll just tell 'em I got all hormonal; and emotional, and they won't dare fire me - well at least, not while I'm still pregnant!"

"You, Catherine Gale, are" Harm told her as he wiggled a spatula in her direction, "a wicked woman!"

"Not at all she replied complacently," waiting until he'd turned his back before she stuck her tongue out at him, "just sticking to the letter of the law. After all," she continued, batting her eyelashes at him as he turned to face her, "I am a lawyer, you know!"

"Yeah, you are… which brings me to my next two sorry sagas…"

"Go on, " she encouraged him.

"Well, there was pretty nasty confrontation between Mattie and two of the mechanics. It seems that a couple of weeks ago, they needed to put in some overtime, which was agreed beforehand with Mattie, but whether because she didn't have the cash to hand, or whether she simply forgot, she didn't include it in their pay-packets for last week, and they got pretty hot under the collar."

Catherine winced, "Not nice…"

"No, it wasn't; Mattie and I calmed them down, and they finally agreed to wait until Friday this week for their pay. So I told Mattie to hold onto my flying wages and pay them instead. But what's really needed is for those farmers who owe her money to pay them. Any movement on that front?" he asked hopefully.

"Yeah, I sent out letters to the five biggest debtors today, warning them that were past due, and possibly facing legal action. So we'll just have to wait and see. Oh, and I spoke to Beth. Did you know something I didn't?" she finished with just a hint of suspicion in her voice.

"In what way?" he asked, as he tipped the prawns and sliced vegetables into the wok.

"Did you know she was getting aggravation from her… uh… partner about being away so much and being on some very hinky and dangerous missions?"

"No… I hadn't heard anything… I've barely been able to get hold of her since Webb had me canned. But I'm not surprised. Did you know that after the Philippines that Kershaw wanted Beth and me to go for field agent training? And… uh… do you know… uh… have you met Beth's partner?" he asked in turn.

"No I haven't met her partner, but do you mean do I know that she's gay? Yes, I knew, but I don't think it's public knowledge, not even at Langley. Oh, the guys who check out people for security clearances will know, but not everyone. And did I know about Kershaw's plans? Yeah I did, but Blaisdell said that it would be a waste of a pair of good pilots, field spooks could be found under almost every rock but navy-trained aviators were damn' difficult to come by, and that anyway you were both too distinctive looking to be able to merge into the background"

"H'mm… 'good pilots - navy-trained aviators' and 'too distinctive', hey?" Harm smiled smugly.

"Ease off on the ego trip, sailor!" Cathy warned him with a smile, "Because the latest _on-dit_ has friend Webb claiming that he canned you to save your life, because you were volunteering for too many missions and taking too many risks."

"Why… that sneaking, lying, two-faced weasel! I ought to break his nose! It wouldn't be the first time a JAG's done it for him!"

"Easy, tiger," Catherine cautioned him, as he served the rice and stir-fry onto a couple of plates and carried them over to the coffee table.

"Well, I owe him… If it hadn't been for him co-opting Mac into that FUBAR of an Op in Paraguay, I wouldn't have had to resign from the navy to go and rescue her."

"Her? Not them?" Catherine asked swallowing a mouthful of prawn and rice.

"Hell, no. You know company policy - you screw up, you die. And as far as I'm concerned, Webb screwed up down there - big time! I could have quite happily have left him there. Just for putting Mac in danger, if for nothing else, but," he sighed, "there was Mac and Gunny, and then once I saw the condition he was in…"

"Yeah, he was pretty bad, even when he got back to Langley," Catherine agreed sombrely, "Hey, but look on the bright side, if you hadn't left the navy, joined the company, left the company…"

"Ah-ah, I didn't leave the company, I was fired!" Harm corrected her

"Alright if you hadn't been fired from the company, I probably wouldn't have come to dinner at your place that night, and you wouldn't have gone crop-dusting and found Mattie. So you see, Webb isn't all that bad. Is he?" Catherine asked brightly in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"Well, when you put it like that, then as far as Mattie is concerned, then I guess maybe not," Harm conceded reluctantly. "But I like to think that we would still have found each other". He picked up the carafe of cider and offered to top up Catherine's glass, filling his own for good measure as well, "But I'd still like to punch him out again, even if only for old times' sake," he added wistfully.

Catherine smiled and shook her head, "And you said that I was bad!" she mock-scolded him.

"No, I said you were a wicked woman," he smilingly corrected her.

Catherine smiled in recognition of his amendment and by mutual, if unspoken consent, they let their conversation lapse while they devoted their attention to their meal while it still retained some vestiges of warmth.

After they had eaten Catherine made to get up from the couch, and in response to Harm's raised eyebrow said, "I can't leave you with all the dishes to do every time!"

"Yes you can, and you will," he told her sternly, standing and folding his arms across his chest and keeping his eyes fixed firmly on hers, "I have spoken!" he declaimed with an air of authority.

It was no longer a question of whether Catherine would or would not get up from the couch, it was simply that she collapsed into giggles at his absurdity and was incapable of getting to her feet. "I… I'm… sorry!" she gasped through her laughter, "But you… sounded… so ridic… ridiculous! And if… I wet myself… and... and your…. couch… then it will… be all your… fau… fault for making… me laugh!"

Harm left her to her giggles, turning quickly so that she wouldn't see the grin on his face. If having her laugh at him was the price he had to pay for keeping her comfortable, then it was a price he was more than happy to pay.

The kitchen policed to his satisfaction he brewed two fresh mugs of rose hip and raspberry tea and returned to the couch to find Catherine browsing through some brochures he'd left lying on the lower shelf of the coffee table. "Ah… yeah… I was going to mention those," he said somewhat sheepishly.

"You were?" Catherine seemed mildly surprised.

"Yeah. I mean if we are going to look after Mattie, then all the decisions we make about her ought to be shared decisions, right?"

"Y…e…s, I agree."

"Well, there can't be many decisions that are more important than deciding where she goes to school, right? We know she likes to swim - by the way she said she was very impressed with you this morning - and that she plays volleyball. She says she's OK at math and sciences, but doesn't like English, especially English Lit."

"So?"

"So we need to find a school that will play to her strengths, and encourage her to overcome her weaknesses!"

"Agreed… again!"

"So I was looking at Madison High… "

Catherine looked through the Madison High School brochure, nodding her head as she read and then held out her hand "Harm… pen, please?"

Harm reached across and grabbed a pen off the desk and watched fascinated as Catherine read through the brochure again, making ticks here and crosses there until she'd finished reading. She then totaled both sets of marks, and laying the brochure down she looked levelly at Harm. "OK, the plusses outnumber the minuses by more than two to one, but there are still a lot of things there that concern me…"

"OK, so tell me about them," Harm suggested as he lay back against the squabs and lifting his arm to allow Catherine to snuggle in.

For a while the two of them argued backwards and forwards about the merits of three of the better High Schools in the area, Madison, Falls Church and George C Marshall. As they wrangled back and forth, both pairs of eyes began to get heavy and Catherine at last yawned openly.

Harm looked at his watch, and said, "Crap! Look at the damn' time! You need to be getting home and to bed! I'm an ass for keeping you talking so late!"

"M'mm…" Catherine seemed to agree, but made no move, except to snuggle in closer and play with one of his shirt buttons. "On the other hand…"

"Yes?" Harm raised an eyebrow.

"I do have an overnight bag in the trunk," Catherine suggested indicating her car keys sitting on the corner of the table, "and it's got my swim-suit in it too," she added.

Harm grinned down into her face as she carefully kept her eyes from making contact with his. "And I suppose you'd like me to go and get it for you?" he suggested.

"Well, it would save me making the trip, Catherine replied with a shy smile, "and seeing how you were so adamant about me not helping with the dishes, it seems…"

"Yeah, yeah," Harm replied indulgently, "I get the message!" He levered himself to his feet, and disappeared into the bedroom where he could be heard opening and closing closet doors, to reappear with a folded bath sheet draped over one arm. "Here, help yourself to the shower while I'm gone, if you want. I'll play baggage handler for you!"

xii-xii-xii-xii-xii

"While you were swimming, I was thinking," Harm confided to Catherine the following morning as they made their way across the swimming club parking lot to their cars.

"This early in the morning?" Catherine laughed up at him.

"Yes, I was thinking this early in the morning, and precisely because it is this early in the morning. Yesterday, if you can remember that long ago, we were all up at an ungodly hour of the night so that we could all rotate through your bathroom. This morning, with just the two of us… it all went so smoothly, like clockwork, like a well-oiled machine."

"And your point is…?" Catherine glanced quizzically at him.

"Well… the new house… You know we thought of having the second bedroom/bathroom _en-suite_ kept as a guest room?"

"Uh huh."

"Well it strikes me as a bit selfish, especially with a teenager in the house with God knows what sort of bathroom rituals. Wouldn't it be better all round if Mattie…" he said diffidently.

"Had the second bedroom? Of course it would!" Catherine emphatically interrupted him.

"But… I thought you wanted to keep that room for guests," Harm faltered.

"Umm… no… It was you who said it ought to be the guest room…"

"Yeah, well, but you agreed so quickly that I thought you wanted..."

"I thought you thought I thought you thought?" Catherine teased him.

Harm felt the colour mount to his cheeks, "Yeah, well…" he mumbled.

"We have got to get out of this habit, before it becomes one," Catherine said, stopping and turning to face him. She took both his hands in hers. "We have got to get over this walking around each other on egg-shells. Just because we had an unconventional relationship to start with, it doesn't mean that we can't be honest with each other, about what we want, about what we feel. Look, we've already come a long way, too far to let a minor disagreement about who gets what room derail us, agreed?"

Harm looked at her thoughtfully. She was right. He and Catherine had reached a stage of intimacy that had taken months to reach with some of his past girlfriends, and which despite all his past yearnings to the contrary he had never been able to reach with Mac.

Catherine stood looking up into his eyes, patiently waiting for her answer, but she had already learned that Harm needed time to process his thoughts and feelings, and that no matter how glib he might be while presenting arguments to courts-martial panels, when it came to his private life, he needed to weigh up his options before he spoke.

"Yes… we have come a long way, and for that Catherine Gale, thank you. And I agree it's time we started talking directly to each other… but like I've said before, I'm kinda clumsy when it comes to personal things, and I don't want to hurt you, not even accidentally, so I tend to beat around the bush a bit, like I'm feeling out the ground before I take a full step…?"

"Understood…" Catherine stood biting her lip for a few seconds, "but until we can be completely honest and open with each other, we're going to risk misunderstandings… like the one we've just had about that damned bedroom… so let's try and be open and above board, and if we bump heads along the way, I'll try not to hold it against you, if you'll do the same for me, OK?"

"Catherine Gale, how did that dumbass ever walk out of your life? But I'm glad he did, because he let you walk into mine!"

Catherine felt warmth grow in her chest at Harm's words. He had always been kind, gentle and considerate. And she realised that he was the type of man who believed that actions spoke louder than words, and by his actions he had already shown that he cared for her, but this was one of the few occasions when he had let his guard down and told her how he felt about her, and because she realised how rare those moment s were likely to be, she resolved to remember each and every precious one of them.

Catherine stood on tip-toe, still holding Harm's hands and raised her face to his. Taking the hint, he bowed his head to hers and landed a soft gentle kiss on her lips. Satisfied, Catherine settled back on her heels, and smiled up at him. "I have got to fly; otherwise I'm going to be late! Don't forget, I'll see you at Kresge at seventeen hundred, and then at nineteen hundred it's Lamaze night!"

"So, I guess it's take out night tonight?" Harm said as she started to turn towards her car.

"Yes, it is! How about pizza?" she laughed.

"You have been spending way too much time around Mattie!" he accused her with a grin as he watched her slide behind the steering wheel of her car.

Harm stood and watched as she rolled out of the parking lot, and then shaking his head he headed for the Lexus, he had a lot to do between now and Monday, and time was running out!

xii-xii-xii-xii-xii

Harm stood behind Catherine as the elevator rose swiftly and silently to the second floor of her apartment building, his go-bag hanging by its strap from his shoulder as he his arms supported Catherine around her waist and his hands cradling her bump held firmly in position by her own. The swishing of the door as it opened broke the mini-tableau and Catherine ferreted in her purse for her keys and then let them both into the apartment.

No sooner had the door shut behind them than Catherine kicked off her shoes with a sigh of relief and dropping her purse onto the side table by the door, before she lowered herself onto the couch. Harm grinned and resolved that once again Catherine was in for a foot rub this evening, and if he timed it right, it would be well after dinner, so that she could get herself to bed while still feeling relaxed. He fished his cell 'phone out of his pocket and scrolled down through the stored numbers until he came to Pietro's Pizza Palazzo, Catherine's favourite pizza,

"If that's the call for pizza, Harm," Catherine called from the couch, "Order two, we have company coming!"

Harm nodded, holding up a hand to acknowledge the instruction as he spoke to the restaurant, and then folding his phone shut, he made his way to the fridge and pulled out two bottles of water. Carrying them both across to the couch he sat down next to Catherine, and twisting the cap of on bottle, he passed it to her, "Company?" he queried, "You've kept that one quiet."

"Umm," Catherine took a sip of the water and smile din gratitude, "Yeah, I didn't want you fretting all evening. I spoke to Beth again today, or rather she called me back. She's interested in the job, but wants to know more about it, so she and her partner should be here in about…" Catherine looked at her watch, "about fifteen minutes…"

"Just in time for dinner!" Harm grinned, "Pietro's promised delivery sometime between fifteen and thirty minutes. Should I put some plates on to warm?"

"Oh, yes please, and there's a bottle of red in the right-hand cabinet, as well as fruit juice and cider in the fridge."

"Well I'd best get some glasses out too. Cutlery or paper napkins?"

"Harm! It's pizza. The classic finger food! Of course napkins!" Catherine laughed at him.

"Yes'm, napkins it is!"

Harm fussed around the table for a few minutes, ensuring that everything was ready for the arrival of both guests and food, before he sat down again on the couch, leaning back into the corner and looking along its length at Catherine, comfortably settled in her usual nest of cushions.

"So, you intrepid aviator," Catherine said lightly, "Apart from scaring the last leaves off the trees, what else have you been up to today?"

"I didn't do much leaf scaring today. Gave Mattie a hand around the hangar for the morning, then we dismissed all hands for the day and I went to see her mom's house. It used to be a farmhouse back in the day, two storeys plus a loft and a basement, an old barn, the land's long gone, sold off by her great-grandparents, she thinks, but there's half-maybe three quarters of an acre around the house and barn. Both buildings could do with a bit of renovation, the barn more than the house. I... uh talked to Mattie about what might happen to the house if Frank takes up the mortgage and she comes to live with us. It took a whiles, but I convinced her that we should offer it as rent-free accommodation to Beth, or whoever we can get as a manager, that way we can keep the wage bill down, and whoever comes in as manager will have less tax to pay to the IRS. It was a bit of a struggle, but I finally got her to agree to it."

Catherine nodded her appreciation of Harm's reasoning, "Anything else?"

"Yeah we talked about schools. She's still not too happy with the idea, but I convinced her in the end - I think - that she does need to go back to school and then onto college. We went through the brochures and we decided to try in order of preference, Falls Church High, George Mason, and George Marshall."

Catherine again nodded, "Yeah, the order is slightly different, but those were the three we thought would be best. Are you sure you can get her into Falls Church, isn't that a dedicated school for Falls Church?"

"No, it's not," Harm disagreed with her. "It is a dedicated school, but despite its name and street address, it's not in Falls Church, and is dedicated to Vienna. But that was easily settled, and I'll try and register her there tomorrow, to start after the Christmas holidays. She wasn't too happy, but I did, as I say, make her see sense. It wasn't quite so easy, though, getting her to agree to my other idea!" He grinned at the memory of the spirited discussion he and the teenager had had that afternoon.

"Oh, what was that?"

"From Monday, I'm not going to be able to race down to Charlottesville every day, so I got Mattie to agree - eventually - that a neighbour of hers, a Mrs Pearson would keep a temporary eye on her for me, and make sure she eats something other than pizza a couple of nights during the week. We, of course," he smiled at Catherine, "Still get the chance to spoil her at weekends!"

"No, we mustn't spoil..."

Whatever Catherine had been about to say was interrupted by the door intercom buzzer. Harm got to his feet and crossed to the door and pressed the 'Speak' button, "Hullo?"

There was a moment's silence and then a familiar and well-liked voice asked hesitantly, "Harm?"

"Yes, it's me, in the flesh!" Harm pressed the 'Door Open' button and grinned, "Come on up - the price is right!"

A couple of minutes later came a light rap on the door, and Catherine, who had been helped to her feet by Harm opened the door to admit Beth O'Neill and a slightly taller, slightly slimmer blonde woman, maybe a year or two younger than the brunette, who smiled somewhat uncertainly as Beth and Harm hugged each other in greeting and Beth then turned to Catherine, extending a hand in greeting, "Miss Gale, good evening."

Catherine took the proffered hand, but said, "It's Catherine, please. Won't you both come and sit down and make yourself comfortable."

Beth smiled, but hesitated before moving, "Catherine, Harm, this is Gina, my partner." Her voice carried a slight edge of challenge, as she made the introduction. Harm made to speak, but before he could, Catherine said easily, "Hi, Gina, I'm Catherine Gale, and this is my partner, Harmon Rabb. Welcome to my home."

A few minutes of flurry followed as Harm took coats and Beth and Gina settled themselves, while Harm, took drink orders, and no sooner had he sat down again than the door intercom buzzed to announce the arrival of dinner.

Harm disappeared for a few minutes, returning with two large pizza boxes, which he placed on the table, and retrieving the warmed plates, he set the table and called for everyone to come and eat.

Dinner was accompanied by a Beth's introduction of Gina as a free-lance illustrator of children's books, and a brief rendering of her history starting with her childhood in Maine and finishing with her graduation from Alcorn State University at Vicksburg.

Dinner finished, Beth insisted on helping Harm while Catherine and Gina retired to the living area and continued to talk about life as a student a long way from home. An experience Catherine shared through leaving home in Missouri to attend Michigan State before going to Duke in order to attend law school.

Consequently it was nearly an hour after their arrival that Beth and Harm sat with their partners, and Beth said, "OK, fill me in on the details of this job offer..."


	13. Chapter 13

**13**

Beth and Gina sat quietly, listening intently as Harm and Catherine took turns in outlining the situation with Mattie, Grace Aviation, the Grace house and the upcoming guardianship case.

Beth sat, deep in thought for a while, and finally nodded, "It's an attractive proposition, Harm, but there are one or two drawbacks."

"H'mm?"

"Well, for a start, I'm only two years off my twenty… that is if you take navy and the Company together."

"Yeah… good point," he agreed.

"But… on the other hand, the way things are going, whether I reach the twenty is becoming…" she hesitated, looking at Gina, "problematical."

Gina took hold of Beth's hand, "I don't want you to give up flying," she said, with the air of someone repeating themselves, "but I was scared when you were flying for the Navy, and now… I'm plain terrified. It was bad enough when I knew you were flying with a good co-pilot, but even with a good one," she nodded in Harm's direction, "I saw how near you came to skidding off the deck of that aircraft carrier. I saw you nearly die, Beth. Now every time you fly for that… organization, I have nightmares until you're safely home again. This job sounds almost perfect for us. You still get to fly, but you'll be home almost every night, and people won't be trying to kill you or throw you in jail. And I can work anywhere with a computer and a DSL connection. OK the pay isn't great, and you'll have to make your own pension arrangements, but what good is a government pension in two years if you're not here to collect it?"

"Well… the pay was another sticking point…" Beth objected.

"But… if you didn't have to pay for accommodation? No rent, just the bills?" Catherine chipped in.

Beth looked askance at the couple opposite, "How?"

"Well," Harm said, "Like we said, the business is based at Charlottesville. And I'm pretty sure that you wouldn't want to commute from the DC area on a daily basis. The Grace house is no more than a couple of miles from the field, and as part of the employment contract you would have the right to live there, rent free, for as long as you are in the company employ. It's a family home - an old farmhouse - with a barn that could convert to a studio, if you wanted it to," he nodded at Gina. "What's more, the low pay is only the starting position. With you running the place, and maybe even starting up the air-taxi business with the Cessna, there's no reason that Grace Aviation shouldn't be in profit within the year, and that would allow for an increase in pay. Catherine and I would be the company's legal representatives, so that wouldn't be a worry, and of course it would be _pro-bono. _As far as pension goes, I see no reason why you shouldn't have a 401(k) scheme, and after one year the company would match your payments."

Beth chewed her bottom lip for a moment or two longer, and then in response from squeeze from Gina who was still holding her hand, she turned to her and saw the plea in the blonde's green eyes. Beth heaved a sigh, "Draw up the contract," she conceded, "and I'll sign it."

Before she could say more she was crushed almost breathless as Gina drew her into a fierce hug, "Oh, thank you, Beth, thank you!" And then she turned to Harm and Catherine, and wiping the tears away from her eyes smiled, "And thank you both too!"

Beth's smile was also somewhat watery, "When do I start?" she asked.

"We'll go down to Charlottesville on Saturday," Harm said, "All of us, so you can see what you're getting into and," he grinned, "you can meet the boss!"

"OK, I'll tell Blaisdell tomorrow that I quit…"

"Before you do that and get escorted off the premises," Catherine grinned, "drop by legal services, and I'll have a contract of employment ready for your signature, by ten o'clock, "I believe that's ten-hundred hours to you military types?" she added innocently, but with a sidelong look at Harm.

Beth blinked and then grinned, "So, It doesn't look like you're wasting any time. I start when?"

Catherine and Harm exchanged a look before turning back to her and saying in chorus, "Monday!"

xiii-xiii-xiii-xiii-xiii

Harm kissed Catherine goodbye in the Yorktown Parking Lot and watched as she made the turn to take her to Langley before he climbed into his Lexus and headed for Charlottesville. Today he reflected wryly was his last day as a crop duster, and apart from flying two sorties for Mattie he had a whole load of other stuff to deal with.

And not the least of those was preparing Mattie to meet Beth, and Gina too, he supposed. It should, he told himself wryly, prove to be an interesting day.

It was nearly two hours later that he pulled off the road, turning into the airfield gate and parking the SUV alongside the Hangar. He debussed and strolled into the hangar only to be confronted by the diminutive and furious figure of Mattie. "You're late!" she spat at him.

"Yeah, sorry about that, bad traffic on the Fredericksburg Pike, an eighteen wheeler overturned and blocked off the road."

She eyed him, not all appeased by his explanation, "And would you accept that excuse from one of your sailors?" she demanded, her chin jutting aggressively.

Harm was about to reply that he didn't have any sailors to report to him, when he remembered that from Monday, he would have. A huge grin split his face and he looked her straight in the eye, "Damn straight!" he confirmed.

"Like hell!" she shot back at him still glaring furiously.

Harm took a second to study her, he'd been this late before, mostly due to bad traffic, and Mattie had made a sarcastic comment or two, but always with a hint of a grin behind her scolds... but this was different. Harm propped himself against a workbench and said softly, "Hey, squirt, what's this all about?"

Mattie huffed, shrugged and thrust her fists into her jeans' pockets, "Like I said, you're late! And you've got two dusts to do today!"

"Nope, not working. Now c'mon, give, what's really got your..." Harm paused for a second, "goat?" he finished almost without break the flow of his question. Halfway through his sentence he'd realised that 'panties' and 'wad' were not words he ought to include while talking to a fourteen-year-old girl.

Smooth as he thought he had been, his slight hesitation had not gone entirely unnoticed and Mattie had a pretty good idea of what he'd been about to say and the sight and sound of his self-censoring was too much for her to resist a giggle. Quickly recovering however, she scowled "Beef and bean casserole."

"Casserole?" Harm repeated blankly.

"Yeah, Mrs Pearson and her damned beef and bean casserole!"

He winced, "Uh... was it that bad... honestly?"

Mattie shrugged "Well... no... not really," she admitted in a somewhat off-hand manner, "but... it's not the sort of thing I eat... and Mrs Pearson, well... it took damn' near an hour and a half to get rid of her!"

"Oh... I'm sorry Mats, it's just that if I'm not going to be down here every day..." then the realisation struck him..."Hey! Mattie, Beth O'Neill accepted the job, and the offer to live in the house, so until we get sorted in the new house - just three weeks away, now, you won't be alone... uh... is there something wrong there Mattie?"

Mattie's face settled in to a mask of discontent, "Harm, you don't expect me to be happy sharing my mom's house with anyone, do you?"

"No... I hadn't thought of it that way. No... uh... and there's something else that I just remembered..."

"What?"

"Ummm... uh... Nothing... I think I'm going to... Mattie, we need to postpone this discussion for the time being. But I promise you we'll pick it up again, either later today or tomorrow, once I've had a chance to talk to Catherine."

Mattie glowered at him, "Don't jerk me around, Harm," she warned him.

"I'm not, I promise," he stretched his hand out and gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. "We will pick this up again later, but now, I'm late for work and I've got this really tough boss..."

"Yeah," Mattie tried to grin at his attempt at humour, "You'd best get up there!"

xiii-xiii-xiii-xiii-xiii

Harm pulled into the alley outside the converted warehouse north of Union Station and waited for Catherine to park her Malibu Max behind the Lexus before opening the building door and pressing the call button for the elevator, praying as he did every time now that the evil spirit that haunted the ancient equipment wouldn't force Catherine to try and climb the three flights of stairs up to the loft. Thankfully, to the benefit of Catherine's legs and temper, the elevator made its slow, jerky way up to the loft with no more ill-effects than a slight wince from Catherine at one particularly vicious jerk. Nevertheless a sigh of relief from Catherine accompanied the opening of the apartment door and she almost immediately waddled across to the couch where her nest of cushions was now almost permanently in place.

Harm assisted her to settle down and placed another cushion on the coffee table to rest her feet on, as she kicked her moccasins off her aching feet and then with a half smile he turned towards the kitchen where he lit the burner under the kettle to boil the water for tea.

Catherine watched him with a faint frown on her face, he had seemed distant, pre-occupied since they had met outside her mom's room at Kresge hospital, oh, he had borne his part of the conversation, and had even managed to make her mom smile a couple of times, but when he wasn't involved in the conversation, he seemed to withdraw into himself and at one stage it had taken a double repetition of his name to bring him back from wherever he had gone. She waited until he had brewed the tea and brought it across to the couch; taking her mug from him she allowed him to sit before she half-turned towards him and said, "OK, spit it out."

"Oh... it's nothing much really. Just that I screwed up. Again."

"Can we fix it?" she asked.

"We? Why should you get involved, it's my screw up, not yours," he protested.

Catherine swatted him gently on the upper arm, "Hey, remember, there is no 'you' and 'I' here, there is only 'us'!" she reminded him.

Harm smiled at her thinking just how different her 'only us' was from the 'there is no us' that had torn such hole in his heart, a hole that was slowly being filled by the trust and patience of the caring, lovely woman sitting beside him.

Bringing himself back to the current situation his smile became troubled and he confessed, "I let my mouth run ahead of my brain - as usual. I said to Beth that she could start work on Monday..."

"Umm... no... actually we both said she could start work on Monday..."

Harm made an impatient gesture with his hand, "That's not really important. The thing is when I mentioned it to Mattie this morning she wasn't exactly... thrilled... at the idea of sharing her mom's house with somebody. Particularly when that somebody is someone she hasn't even met."

"Ouch!"

"Yeah, and an even bigger ouch when I remembered about Gina."

"What about Gina?" a puzzled Catherine asked.

"She's Beth's partner. Her lover," Harm answered uncomfortable at having to state the obvious.

"So what, I thought you were cool with Beth being gay?" Catherine interposed in a surprised tone.

"Oh, I am, I am," Harm assured her, "But I'm not so sure that CPS would be so cool.

"Ah..." Catherine breathed.

"Yeah."

"Would they necessarily find out? I mean, it's only a temporary arrangement until we close on the house..."

"Well... we still have to be interviewed by a Guardian _ad Litem_, and then there's an interview with Welfare Services and a home visit, and we can't lie to either of them, that would torpedo our chances before we even get in front of the judge, and I'm not sure that leaving Mattie with a gay couple for three weeks will do our chances any good either."

"No, probably not," Catherine agreed, "But..."

"But what?"

"Well, Mattie could move in with me for those couple of weeks. I've got the room, and it would provide her with some stability as well as giving us the chance of getting to know each other."

"I can't ask you to do that!" Harm protested.

"You didn't; I'm offering," Catherine pointed out, "Besides, as I keep telling you, we're in this together!"

Harm looked at her considering her offer and its possible repercussions. "I don't know... we'd be removing her from her own home... I don't know how CPS and the courts would view that..."

"Umm... how about, we took her to a place where she's warm, safe, under responsible adult supervision gets proper meals and has a female companion to help her through any possible development problems?" Catherine challenged him.

"Developmental problems?" Harm asked, alarmed.

"Yes," Catherine told him looking at him steadily, "Developmental problems." And then when he still didn't react she sighed, "Female developmental problems. Or did you want to handle those?"

Catherine giggled as an expression of blind panic swept over his face, "Good God, No!" he exclaimed in a horrified voice, "No, that sort of ball is definitely in your court!"

"Yes, I rather thought it might be," she murmured as she took a sip of her tea. Then putting the cup down on the table she smiled at him, a warm, friendly teasing smile. "Now that we've sorted out that problem, there's another one, but this time it's for you to fix, all by yourself!"

"Oh, what's that?" Harm demanded, his voice rising half an octave, suspicious of the gleam in her eye.

"Well, I seem to recall when we left the hospital, that somebody offered me dinner..." she let her voice trail off lazily.

"Ah. Yes. Dinner; coming right up ma'am!" Harm grinned, although at least half the grin was sheer relief and gathering up the empty cups he stood and headed for the kitchen island. Catherine shook her head gently at his turned back and delving into her purse retrieved her cell 'phone, quickly dialling a number...

"Hi, Mattie, it's Catherine. How was your day?"

"_Crap. Harm wants to move some damn woman I don't even know to share the house with me until the new house is ready or something!_ _Or at least that's what he says! I reckon he's just putting someone in to spy on me!_"

"Wow, Mattie, that's really, really, sneaky!"

"_Yeah, it sucks, big time!"_

"Yeah... Hey! I've got an idea!"

"_What_?" Catherine could plainly hear the suspicious discontent in the teen's voice.

"Well... you know that Harm and I are coming down tomorrow..."

"_Yeah?"_

"H'mm.. and we're bringing Beth and her friend down so they can have a look at the business and the house. You did agree that the manager could live in the house didn't you? And keep it habitable for you."

"_Yeah, I s'pose_."

"Beth is really a very nice person... but if you don't want to share with her, I can understand that, but I could do with some help, so... how would you like to share with me? Just until the house is ready?"

"_What, you want to move down to Charlottesville?"_ Mattie asked in astonishment.

"No... I meant that perhaps you'd like to come and stay with me at my place until we move. It's not going to be a free ride though, so it's no charity. I'm going to need help, a lot of help, to get the place packed up if we're going to move in a few weeks. So, what do you say, Mattie? Can you come and help me for a while?"

"_What, come and live in the city_?"

"Yeah, do you have a problem with that?"

"_No... no problem... it sounds great! Thank you Catherine! Thank you!"_

"OK, then Mattie, start packing your bags this evening, and we'll give you a hand tomorrow and then when we're done at Charlottesville, you can come home with me. How does that sound?"

"_Way cool_!"

"OK, then sweetheart, we'll see you tomorrow! 'Bye!"

"_Yeah, 'bye, and thanks_!"

Harm had been listening, at least to Catherine's side of the conversation, and raised an admiring eyebrow in her direction, "Sneaky," he complimented her.

"Yeah I thought so too," Catherine said complacently as she tilted her head back and swivelled it to grin across at Harm.

This time he laughed, an honestly amused laugh, and walking back to her he bent and dropped a gentle kiss on her forehead, and then offering her his hands, he helped her to her feet and guided her across to the dining table, "_E per la bella signora stasera la pasta con tutti i frutti del mare in una salsa leggera. Per essere seguita la favoloso piede strofinare di Harmon Rabb!_" he said in an exaggerated Italian accent as he seated her with a flourish.

Catherine shot him a half-laughing, half suspicious glance. "I didn't know you spoke Italian?"

"Oh, only kitchen Italian," he half apologised. "I picked up a few words when we had shore leave in Naples. Just enough to order a meal and a jug of the local vino."

Catherine took a forkful of the pasta as he poured them both a glass of sparkling cider, "M'mm..." she smiled appreciatively, "a man of many hidden talents."

Switching to a B Movie Chicago gangster accent Harm leered at her, "Oh, baby, you ain't seen nothing yet!"

"Promises, promises," giggled Catherine.

xiii-xiii-xiii-xiii-xiii

Catherine awoke to the feeling of pressure on her bladder, and groaning at the necessity she rolled out of bed on to her feet, shivering in the pre-dawn chill and waddled through to the bathroom. Returning in as near to a scurry as she could manage she almost hurled herself back under the covers and wrapped herself around Harm, revelling in his body heat, which by comparison to the room temperature felt almost like a furnace.

"You have got to do something about the heating in this place," she snarled at Harm, hoping almost against hope that she'd woken him up.

"Wassamarrarwifit?" he mumbled, through about fourteen levels of unconsciousness.

Catherine huffed, "Hopeless, freaking hopeless!" she told herself and then pummelled his shoulder and upper arm. "Harm! Wake up dammit! Wake up and turn the damn heating on!" she demanded.

"Wha?" he demanded blearily.

"Turn the damn heating on, or I'm going home!" Catherine threatened.

Harm struggled awake and switched on the bedside lamp, "What's up? Is it the baby?" he demanded anxiously as he squinted bleary-eyed at Catherine.

"No, it's not the baby!" she retorted, "It's you and this damn loft. It's freezing in here! Will you please turn the heating on? Please?"

"Oh..." understanding seeped into his sleep befuddled brain, "If you're cold, why didn't you say so?" he mumbled as he slid out from under the covers and disappeared through the doorway into the living room. Returning to bed, he climbed back under the covers and pulled Catherine closer to him so that her head was nestled into the hollow of his shoulder, "OK, heating's up," he told her, reaching back to switch off the lamp, "but until it kicks in, why don't you just snuggle up a bit closer."

"H'mmm... Thank you," a drowsy Catherine replied, but then her eyes opened to their widest, "but we are going to talk about this in the morning!"

xiii-xiii-xiii-xiii-xiii

Harm gently kissed Catherine awake and was rewarded by her warm smile and the glow of pleasure in her eyes that lasted for long moments before she propped herself on her elbow and said, "That was a very nice way to wake up, but it does not get you off the hook - well, not entirely," she amended her own words. "What is it with you and keeping this apartment so damned cold?"

Harm sat up, leaning back against the headboard as Catherine rolled out of bed and appropriated his terry bath robe, tying the belt loosely over her bump, before sitting down on the side of the bed and turning to face him

Harm grinned weakly, "It's just that once I'm under the covers, I'm plenty warm enough."

"But... but don't you get cold if you have to get up during the night?"

"Umm... no... If I have to get up, it's generally only for a few seconds and then I can dive back under the covers, or if I know I'm going to have to be up for a while I pull on a sweat shirt and some joggers..."

Catherine regarded him severely, "Well, that won't work for me now. If I get up in the night its for more than a few seconds; I can't move as fast as you, and I certainly can't 'dive' anywhere. What's more when our daughter arrives, she's going need somewhere to sleep that's slightly warmer than the North Pole!"

Harm melted on the spot, and leaning in to Catherine he kissed her warmly, gently pressing her shoulders back until she was once more lying on her side facing him. "Wow, what was that for?" she asked with a pleased but puzzled expression on her face when they broke off the kiss.

"That is because you are totally adorable when you say that," he smiled at her.

"When I say what?" she asked, a happy smile now on her face.

"'Our daughter'," he quoted her words back at her.

"Well, now... look at you," she teased him gently, "the big bad fighter pilot is just a big softy at heart!"

"Ah," he said suddenly raising himself over her and gently pinning her by her wrists, "I'm only this way with you!"

Catherine's lighter blue eyes seemed to become darker and she visibly swallowed twice before she found her voice, "We need to get going Harm, we're meeting Beth and Gina at Charlottesville, and then we've got to pick up Mattie and get her moved back to my place." She said throatily, and swallowed once more, "but... we will continue this discussion at a later time..."

Harm leaned in to kiss her gently once more, "That we will, Catherine, that we we will!"

Reluctantly the two unpeeled themselves from the sheets and while Catherine claimed first use of the shower, Harm busied himself with fixing a breakfast of French toast, grain cereal, OJ and coffee.

As they policed the kitchen after breakfast Catherine turned to Harm and said, "Don't forget to load your bag into the car."

"Well, I've always got a bag packed in the car, just in case I have to leave quickly for a... Oh, I don't need to do that anymore, do I?" he finished lamely.

Catherine smiled, "Force of habit?"

"Yeah, I guess. But why do I need a bag today?"

"Have you forgotten that we're bringing Mattie up to DC today?"

"No.. but..."

"Harm, I'm not going to take the trouble of installing Mattie in my apartment, just to abandon her overnight. That would be great parenting wouldn't it? Uprooting her from her home and then leaving on her own her first night away."

"Well, no, but I figured that you and she would stay at your place and that I..."

"Oh, no, Mister! That ain't going to happen! I'm just getting used to sleeping with you... and..." she suddenly felt her face get heated, "and... I... I kind of like it..."

Harm turned to her and placed his hands on her hips, "Yeah, I kind of like it too," he told her softly, and then lifted her chin with a forefinger and kissed her again.

xiii-xiii-xiii-xiii-xiii

Harm knocked the gear lever into the 'P' position and applied the parking brake on the Lexus, an expression of discontent on his face. Catherine looked across at him and asked, "What's up, you look like you lost a dollar and found a dime?"

"Mattie." He said succinctly, as if that one word was sufficient explanation.

"What's she done?" Catherine asked, a puzzled frown furrowing her forehead.

"The pick-up's not here. I know she's been driving a while, but I wish she wouldn't! She's probably already at the airfield, and I wanted to be there to introduce Beth to her. I only hope we don't arrive in the middle of a fight!" he said as he released the parking brake and re-engaged the drive.

A few minutes' drive were sufficient to bring Harm and Catherine to the Grace Aviation Hangar, where to Harm's relief the only other vehicle parked up was Mattie's battered and rusting pick-up truck, the condition of which was enough to raise Catherine's eyebrows high on her forehead.

"Mattie drives this?" she asked incredulously.

"Yeah," Harm grumpily confirmed, "and before you say anything else, yes, she's too young to drive, but apparently the local sheriff cuts her some slack. From what she carefully hasn't told me, the sheriff and her mom go way back."

Catherine picked up the edge in his voice, and linking her arm in his she turned towards the hangar taking him willy-nilly with her, "You know, that might not be a totally bad thing. Oh, I'm not saying that she should be allowed to break the law at will," she added as she saw the beginning of a frown on his face, "but she's learning to handle a vehicle out here on very quiet roads, while with even the best driver-ed programme in DC schools, the roads and traffic in and around DC are lethal for novice drivers."

Harm merely huffed in reply as he stretched out a hand to open the side door to the hangar and disengaging his arm from Catherine's, he placed his hand in the small of her back as he ushered her through into the office.

Mattie was sitting at the desk, a pile of file folders on her knee as she arranged different stacks of files on the desk. The side table was already covered in stacks of files. "Morning Mats," Catherine greeted her cheerfully, making a pre-emptive strike on Harm's grumpiness, "Somebody's been busy."

Mattie looked up from her work and tried to smile back at Catherine, but her grin lacked the sunny edge it normally wore as she shrugged and replied, "Hi. Yeah, well even though Grace Aviation is struggling, there's no need to make life any more difficult for the new boss-lady!"

Harm drew a deep breath and resolved to put his negative attitude away for the day, "Hey squirt, there is no new 'Boss Lady', it's still you. This is still your company; Beth is just going to be the manager for you for a while, until you decide what you want to do with your life and with Grace Aviation." Then his ears picking up the sound of a vehicle engine, he added, "And this just might be her..." and helping Catherine into a chair, he smiled and headed for the door to meet the new arrivals.

He was in time to intercept Beth and Gina, both dressed in jeans and sweaters, as they entered through the same door that he and Catherine had used so very few minutes earlier, and although he frowned slightly when he saw that Gina had come with Beth, he knew that there was realistically no way he could have insisted that Beth arrive on her own, or indeed that he would have been able, in the long term, to hide from Mattie the nature of the relationship between the two women.

Swallowing his misgivings, he crossed the hangar floor towards them as they waited for their eyes to adjust to the comparative gloom of the hangar after the unexpectedly warm brightness of the sunny fall day. "Hey, Beth, Gina, how are you?"

"Hi Harm, we're good..." Beth answered in a somewhat distracted voice as she took stock of the hangar and its contents, "Uh... how many of these 'planes belong to Grace Aviation?" she asked as she continued to look around.

"I'm not quite sure... the three Ag-Cats definitely do, so does the Cessna 310. The Stearman definitely doesn't - that's mine!"

Beth looked at the Stearman critically, taking in its wartime navy livery and then turned back towards Harm, her warm grin spreading across her face and crinkling her eyes, "The Stearman's yours? Well... I would never have guessed!"

"Yeah, right!" he responded, Beth's good humour dispelling the last of his former mood.

"What about the others?" Beth indicated the three machines at the back of the hangar.

"I honestly don't know. But Mattie does. She's in the office getting ready to hand over to you." He stepped to one side and waved a hand in the direction of the office door, "but before you meet her..." he stopped, suddenly unsure how to say what he wanted.

"Go on," Gina said encouragingly.

"Umm.. Look... I haven't said anything to her about... well... about the two of you being..."

"Lovers?" Beth asked, and then without waiting for a reply continued, "While I was in the navy it was don't ask, don't tell. And I told you that one of the reasons for my leaving the navy was that I was tired of living a lie. The company didn't care, so it was never an issue there. Here... well, I'm not going to publish it from the roof tops, but if I'm asked then I'm... then we're not going to hide any more, we're going to tell the truth. Right Gina?"

"Damn' straight!" the blonde agreed emphatically.

Harm nodded, feeling somewhat relieved. He wasn't at all sure how open-minded Mattie might be, and to be under no pressure to disclose the nature of Beth and Gina's relationship was, as far as he was concerned, a bonus on the day.

Mattie and Catherine were talking quietly when Harm led Beth and Gina into the office. Mattie immediately stood and drew a deep breath, but as Catherine made as if to get up both Harm and Beth waved her off. The second or so their attention was centred on Catherine was enough for Mattie to step forward and extend a hand, "Hi, I'm Mattie Grace," she said in a carefully neutral voice.

"Hello Mattie, I'm Beth O'Neill, and this is my friend Gina Mitchell," Beth replied, again with her warm smile on her face, "And I understand you're my new boss?"

Mattie had been quite prepared to be hostile and stand-offish if she had detected a hint of patronage in Beth's introduction, but the open approach, the warmth of the smile and the easy acknowledgement that Grace Aviation was hers did much to soothe hackles that had been ready to rise. Beth's smile brought Mattie's grin to full life as she replied, "Damn straight I am! And I guess you're my new manager?"

"Yep, that would be me," Beth admitted.

"Right, drag a chair up to the desk and let's get this show on the road!" Mattie exclaimed. "Harm tells me that you're a pilot, so I guess you want to know what hardware we've got?"

"It'll do for starters," Beth acknowledged.

"OK, we've got the three Ag-Cats for spraying, the Cessna 310 was going to be an air taxi, and mom was going to be the pilot, but then..."

"Yeah, I heard," Beth said sympathetically, "what else we got?"

"There's the Cessna 172; it's pretty long in the tooth. We were using it as a primary trainer, mom and dad were both FAA CFIs, but dad lost his license through a DUI, and then..."

Again Beth nodded sympathetically. "What about the other 'planes out there?" she wanted to know.

"Well the Stearman is Harm's - but you knew that, right? Uh-huh, the Auster belongs to Harry Cooper, he's a businessman in Charlottesville - runs some sort of hardware wholesale business, but uses the 'plane for recreational purposes, and the Piper Arrow belongs to Dick Harding, his daddy's a big shot financial wizard in Fredericksburg."

"OK, that's pretty straightforward. Any of them behind with their hangarage fees?"

Mattie nodded to the side table, "The debtors and creditors files are over there, if it's OK with you we can get to them later?"

"Sure thing. What else we got here?"

"OK, these blue files are the airplane maintenance records and airworthiness certificates..."

Harm leant against the wall alongside Catherine's chair and rested a hand on her shoulder as he listened with interest while Mattie ran down the various stacks of files: personnel records, insurances, bank statements, FAA Notices to Aviators, and the rest of the paperwork that surrounded, and at times threatened to swamp, any small aviation business.

He saw that Gina was trying to be interested in the minutiae of Grace Aviation but could see that she was fighting a losing battle, and then as he heard Catherine's stomach growl, he grinned. "Hey, squirt, I know you're a real mean hard-head boss, but were you thinking of taking a lunch break anytime soon?"

Both Mattie and Beth looked up from the file they were reading through, but it was Mattie who made the eloquent and elegant reply "Huh?"

"Oh, OK. Well, if you two don't, then I do, and I know that Catherine does, and I'm pretty sure that Gina does too. Gina?"

"Oh! Yes, thank you! I'm starving!"

"OK, there's a bar and grill a couple of miles down the road," Harm had turned his attention to the two blondes leaving Beth and Mattie gazing in consternation at him, and it wasn't until Harm had helped Catherine to her feet that Mattie found her voice.

"Hey! You can't go to the bar for lunch! I'm not allowed in there!"

"But I thought you weren't interested?" Harm asked with a perfectly straight face.

"Harm, damn straight I'm interested! Hungry teenager here, remember?"

"H'mm..." Harm rubbed his chin. "It looks like a change of plan ladies, I'm sorry, but it looks like it's going to have to be pizza."

Mattie's grin grew even broader, "Yes! A result!" she crowed triumphantly.

"Come on then ladies," Harm submitted with extravagant good grace. "We can all fit in the Lexus!"

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What Harm had planned to be a quick working lunch turned out to be a long working lunch as Beth and Mattie chewed over the details of the handover of the business while Catherine produced a spiral bound notebook and pen from the depths of her purse and noted the salient points of the discussion, and despite himself Harm found the discussion fascinating. As a result it wasn't until Gina pointedly said, "Catherine, it's getting a little stuffy in here, how about catching a breath of fresh air?" That he realised that the diversionary break he'd intended hadn't actually taken place.

"Gina, you're absolutely right. And in case you two had forgotten, there's more than just the hangar to care of today."

Beth and Mattie frowned at each other, until Mattie's face cleared, "Oh, crap! We forgot about the house!" And then whether because she realised what she had just said, or because she was embarrassed to have forgotten about the house, she blushed fire-engine red and uttered a stifled, "Sorry!"

Fortunately Harm was in a forgiving mood and he merely chuckled at her gaff before he called for the check.

Settling everyone into the Lexus took no more than a minute, and Harm now aware of the passage of time turned in his seat, "Apart from picking up Beth - or Gina's - car, does anyone need to get into the hangar?"

Mattie shrugged, "I don't think so, we're good, aren't we Beth?"

"Yep, I can't recall a clearer handover - believe me Harm, it was a damn sight easier and smoother than signing for an airplane from the navy!"

Harm winced as he recalled the number of pieces of paper that had to be read, checked and signed on the handover of a single F-14, but then he reflected, the whole of Grace Aviation was worth less, in dollars, than a single Tomcat.

The only other thing, Harm," Mattie interrupted his train of thought, "is that my bags are in the pick-up."

"OK, not a problem, we swing by the hangar cross-deck the bags and then head on out to the house."

Beth smiled at Gina, "At least that will be more your speed than all this talk of airplanes."

"H'mm... you're not going to become tiresome about this are you, Beth?"

"Nope, once I'm home for the day, the hangar door stays shut!" Beth's remark drew a crack of laughter from Harm, the only other occupant in the vehicle who knew exactly to what she was referring, but the answer did, nevertheless, seem to mollify Gina.

It took Harm, Beth and Mattie less than a minute to transfer her bags from the pick-up to Harm's SUV, but it also took Harm's warning cough and raised eyebrows to induce Mattie to hand over the keys to the battered Grace Aviation truck as well as the keys to the hangar.

Once again it was only a minute or two before the Lexus and Beth's Chrysler Sebring drew up outside the Grace house. Mattie unlocked the door and stood back to let Beth and Gina enter. Harm followed them in but Catherine stopped by the door and looked closely at Mattie. "Are you alright, Mattie?" she asked in a voice of concern, the normally lively teen had suddenly seemed to droop and her face and body language indicated unhappiness.

"Yeah... I think so, Catherine... thanks... it's just that seeing..." she gulped and waved in the general direction of the interior, "Seeing Beth and Gina here... it just makes it seem all so real, all of a sudden..."

Catherine draped a comforting arm around Mattie's shoulders and gave her a squeeze. "I know, it's hard moving on, especially when the place you're moving from means so much. But look on the bright side, you're fourteen, right?"

"Fifteen," Mattie corrected her.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I thought Harm said you were fourteen?"

"Yeah I was, until yesterday."

"Mattie!" Catherine was shocked, "Your birthday was yesterday? Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"Yeah, well, I didn't want any fuss made, besides..." her voice faded into silence

"Besides what, Mattie?" Catherine persisted.

"Well, what if you did make a fuss, and had a party... and nobody came..."

Catherine saw the unshed tears in Mattie's eyes and felt her own eyes prickling in response, "Oh, Mattie Grace, what are we going to do with you!" she exclaimed.

Mattie shrugged and sighed, "Dunno, but I'd best head on in and show Beth and Gina where everything is..."

Catherine nodded and smiled sympathetically, but delayed Mattie by laying a hand on her sleeve, "Remember, now that you're fifteen - you've only got to wait a maximum of three years to reclaim all this, if that's what you want. And if you do, you come to me, and we'll get it all sorted for you. But that's three years away. Mattie you've done a brilliant job as a young adult, now it's time you allowed yourself to be a teenage girl!"

Catherine then let Mattie go and followed the youngster into the house, where Mattie said, "There's no point in you traipsing all over the house when there's no need. The living room is through there, why don't you go and sit down and put your feet up? We won't be too long!"

Catherine smiled gratefully and did as Mattie had suggested, but with nothing in the room to distract her she let her eyes wander around and saw that the hearth was spotless and obviously hadn't been used this year, and although Charlottesville was a hundred or so miles from Washington she didn't think that there could have been any great difference in the average temperature and weather patterns, besides, she reflected, the air temperature in Washington - in any city - would have been higher than out here in the boondocks, and as she had realised last night at Harm's apartment, the overnight temperature even in DC was chilly enough to make anyone glad of a fire.

Once she had reached that conclusion she actually felt cold, and levering herself out of the chair in which she had sat, she waddled through the door to explore the rest of the downstairs. Checking that the front door was shut she stood for a moment to absorb the atmosphere of the house, and she came to the conclusion that apart from any incidental heat coming from the kitchen stove that Mattie had been living in an unheated house, and the cold water that ran over her hand when she turned on the hot water faucet only confirmed her belief. For a moment or two she thought about confronting Mattie, but reluctantly abandoned that idea, not wishing to appear to criticise the young girl, nor indeed to patronise her, but she resolved to mention her concerns to Harm at the first opportunity, and that, she nodded decisively would be tonight!

Taking a seat at the kitchen table Catherine didn't have to wait long before the rest of the party joined her.

Almost on the stride with which she entered the kitchen Mattie threw open the door to the fridge and turning to Beth said, "It's not much, but there's about a pint of milk here that you can use, and in the pantry," she indicated a door in the corner of the kitchen, there's some coffee and sugar. Again, it's not much, but you're welcome to it.

Gina nodded her thanks, while Beth said, "So, we're agreed, then. The furniture we don't want to use we wrap in tarps and take across to the barn - except for your mom's bed, which we leave where it is until you've all moved into your new house, and then Harm and I will arrange to move it up to Vienna. In the meantime, we have our own soft furnishing we are happy to use, but we are also allowed to buy paint and brushes on the company dime and freshen the old homestead up a bit, agreed?"

Mattie stuck out her hand and said, "Agreed!" and then placed the house keys on the table in front of Beth.

Catherine who had been keeping an eye on the time said, "I really think we need to be going. We need to get Mattie settled in and I know Harm's got a lot of work to do before he reports for duty on Monday. Beth, here's my card, with my home and cell numbers on the back, if you have any queries for Mattie you can reach her through me until we get her a 'phone sorted out."

Harm helped Catherine to her feet and a confused round of goodbyes gave Beth the opportunity to hug Harm and whisper in his ear, "You've taken on a heck of job there, my friend!"

He stood back and gave her a full throttle smile, "And you haven't?" he asked cryptically.

Beth and Gina watched the Lexus pull out of the yard and both women heaved a sigh. Beth slipped her arm around Gina's waist while the blonde laid her head against Beth's shoulder and rubbed her cheek against the soft wool of Beth's sweater, "Oh, Beth, what have you got us into this time?"

Beth looked down at her lovingly and said, "Hey, it was all your fault!"

"My fault?" Gina straightened up and looked Beth square in the eyes.

"Damn straight! You were the one who told me to take the offer!"

"I did?" Gina protested laughingly, "Oh, yeah, I did, didn't I? But what does it matter if this place is falling down around our ears, and it'll take months to set it straight."

"Doesn't matter at all," teased Beth, "It'll give you something to do while I'm at work!"

Gina laughed again, "Yeah, riiiight!"

"Come on you. Let's lock up and get home. We've got to get enough packed so we can start living here from Monday!"


	14. Chapter 14

**14**

Mattie was silent for most of the journey back to DC as she started to come to terms with the fact that she was about to start a new life. One part of her was excited at the new opportunities, and just the bare fact that while she had lived all her life 'out in the sticks' she would now be living in the city, and although that prospect was exciting, it was also just a little bit scary.

Harm had seen, in the rear view mirror, Mattie fall into what seemed to be a mood of deep introspection, and reaching across he gripped Catherine's forearm, and with a jerk of his head directed her attention at the teenage girl in the back seat, but at the same time giving a miniscule shake of his head and mouthed 'let her be'.

Catherine nodded her head, whether in agreement with Harm, or just acknowledging his lead, he wasn't sure, but he leaned forward and switched on the radio, tuned as always, to a smooth jazz station.

After some time the music penetrated through Mattie's thoughts and she listened for a few minutes before she spoke, "That's pretty sucky, ya know?"

"What is, Mattie?" Catherine twisted as well as she was able to look back over her left shoulder at the teenager.

"That… stuff… on the radio," Mattie said in a challenging tone.

"Oh, you don't like Jazz, then?" Harm queried, raising his voice so that Mattie could hear him, even though he had stay face forward, concentrating on his driving.

"Nah, it's kinda… like…"

"Sucky?" Catherine supplied.

Mattie couldn't help but giggle, "Yeah, I guess you don't like it either huh?"

"Oh I don't mind jazz, well, not smooth jazz like that… it does have its uses…"

"Yeah, like what?" Mattie challenged, the sneer evident in her voice.

"Oh… for dancing to…" Catherine offered, ostensibly looking over her shoulder at Mattie, while keeping a corner of her eye focused on Harm.

Mattie listened to the rhythm for a moment or two more, "It's kinda slow…" she defended her position.

"True… but… just imagine, candlelight, evening gown, him in a tux, just the two of you, and the music, his hands on your waist, your hands on his shoulder… your head resting against his chest… and the two you, not really dancing, just swaying to the rhythm…" her voice died off into silence.

"Uh… not really my scene, ya know?" Mattie replied deadpan, but her eyes switching rapidly between Catherine and Harm.

"Give it time, squirt," Harm advised her soberly as he shot a quick sidelong look at Catherine, surprising the hell out of her, but affording no small measure of amusement to the girl in the rear seat.

"Um… how much time?" Mattie asked, out of pure mischief.

"Oh…" Harm was surprised by the question, and then an awful thought struck him. The girl - the teenage girl - in the back seat was on the verge of becoming a young woman. In only three years she would be accounted as an adult for most purposes, and although she hadn't mentioned boys, so far, it could only be a matter of time… but in the meantime she was waiting for a reply, and so apparently was Catherine…

"Yes, Harm," the blonde asked him, desperately trying to keep a straight face, "how much time before my little scenario is really Mattie's scene?"

Harm turned his head for an instant to scowl at her, but then made a quick recovery, "Oh… I'd say fifteen to eighteen years…"

"M'mm, that makes sense," Catherine nodded her agreement, much to Harm's surprise, and then she pulled the trigger, "after all, unless she's exceptionally lucky, she's going to have to have a few unsatisfactory moments before she finds Mister Right."

"Yeah, that's true…" Mattie said wonderingly, and then more positively, "after all, gotta dip my toes in the water before I dive in headlong, right?"

"Of course!" Catherine beamed.

"Yeah. Right." Harm muttered, privately resolving that as far as Mattie was concerned there was going to be an absolute minimum of toe-dipping and positively no headlong anything while he still had breath in his body. Then the thought struck him, just what exactly was he getting himself - correction - what exactly had he gotten himself into?

Catherine and Mattie both heard his tone and looked at him sharply, before turning back towards each other and sharing a grin. They were both forced to turn away and look elsewhere before they allowed that grin to become the threatening shared giggle.

Harm glared at Mattie through the medium of the rear-view mirror and then shot a meaningful glance at the now seemingly oblivious Catherine who appeared to be admiring the scenery as the Lexus continued to speed up the US-29 towards DC. He was well aware that somehow he had afforded no small degree of amusement to his passengers, but was at a loss to say exactly what he had said or done; on the other hand he was happy to see that Catherine and Mattie were finding common ground, even if it was only in joining forces to pick on him!

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Harm dropped Mattie's bags just inside Catherine's front door and stretched his shoulders. Turning to the two women he said, "Why don't I put the kettle to boil, and then when we've had a hot drink you can get Mattie settled in Catherine, while I get started on dinner?"

"Yeah… OK, fine… but you might need to go to the store. I don't think there's much of anything left in the fridge," Catherine advised him.

Harm sighed before crossing to the kitchenette and opening the fridge. "H'mm, curds and whey…" he said as soon as he'd recovered his breath after opening the half-used carton of milk, and some limp lettuce… You know, you really should have emptied the fridge before you came over to stay at my place…"

"Yeah, like that was planned." Catherine said, her tongue firmly in cheek.

"Oh… so it was purely coincidence that you just happened to have a bag with your overnight stuff in your car?" he teased her.

"Damn straight!" she chuckled, "Anyway, I was being a girl-scout - be prepared!"

"Were you a girl-scout?" Harm asked, pausing in his excavation of the fridge and raising his eyebrows in interrogation.

"Yes, of course I was," Catherine told him mild surprise. "Like I said, typical middle class childhood, and all that went with it."

"Uh-huh," Harm nodded, closing the fridge door. "OK, let's get the tea brewed and then…"

"Tea?" Mattie protested.

"Yeah, Catherine can't drink full coffee, and neither of us will drink decaf, so we're drinking tea for the next few months. And anyway, like I said the other day, I'm not sure that coffee is good for still-growing teenagers!"

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Catherine rinsed the cups under the faucet and left them to dry on the draining board as Harm shrugged back into his jacket and left the apartment to head for the grocery store.

Mattie sat cross-legged on the couch, her battered trainers in response to a critically raised eyebrow from Harm, had been kicked off and lay untidily next to each other on the floor between couch and coffee table. "Aren't you going to dry them?" she asked Catherine, a nod of her head indicating the cups.

Catherine looked at Mattie for a few seconds and then back at the cups, "No… I don't see the need to wipe them dry, gravity and evaporation works pretty well most of the time, besides it's getting past the stage when I want to stay on my feet any longer than is absolutely necessary."

"Uh-huh, do you want to sit, now?" Mattie asked, making room on the couch.

Catherine placed her hands in the small of her back and pulled her shoulders back in a stretch, she thought for a second before she answered, "No… well, not here. Why don't you grab your stuff and we'll make a start on getting you settled in…"

Mattie grinned and picking up her two bags from where Harm had dumped them, she asked "The room I stayed in before, right?"

Catherine grinned, "Well, I've only got the one bed in my room, and I'm certainly not about to share it with you!"

"No…" Mattie giggled, "Somehow I don't think Harm…" and then realising what she was about to get into, she blushed fire-engine red and rushed into the spare room. Catherine grinned, both at the teen's lapse and at her mortification, before she followed Mattie at a stately waddle, to find the teen already sitting on the edge of the bed, and turning out the contents of one of her battered suitcases.

Not much to Catherine's surprise she noted that Mattie's wardrobe seemed to consist entirely of jeans, sweats, T-shirts, knitted jumpers, and sweat-shirts. Indicating the closet and the chest of drawers, Catherine said, "Go ahead and put your stuff away; I cleared the drawers and the closet. I'll tell you what though," she continued as she looked at the way some of Mattie's things had been stuffed into the suitcase, "You go ahead and hang what needs to be hung in the closet, I'll re-fold some of this stuff before it goes in the drawers".

The two women busied themselves for a while, Mattie breaking off only to prevent Catherine from lifting the second of the suitcases onto the bed, before all was tidied away. Harm had returned from his shopping expedition and had paused only to stick his head around the door frame to announce his return before heading for the kitchen where he could be heard clattering pots and pans as he prepared dinner. In the meantime Catherine had given Mattie's clothing a swift but thorough scrutiny and had made a mental note of what she considered some deficiencies, and when Mattie said, "OK, that's everything," Catherine raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Everything? You didn't leave any clothing down in Charlottesville?"

"No… nothing, that's it… why?" Mattie asked curiously.

"Well…" Catherine hesitated a moment or two, this could turn out to be both tricky and embarrassing, "It's just that you don't seem to have any dresses or skirts…"

Mattie made a face of disgust, "Nah… that's not who I am…"

"H'mm… OK, but… uh… Mattie… you don't seem to have any bras, either?"

Mattie giggled, half in embarrassment and half in amusement, "Well, no… I guess not…" she looked down at herself self consciously, "Up until a couple of months ago, I was like as flat as an ironing board… I mean, I know I'm not exactly a swimsuit model now, but then I was really, really…"

"Flat?" Catherine contributed.

"Yeah… and then when these started growing… I would rather have died than gone into a store on my own and tried to buy one…" Mattie confided in a rush.

Catherine was hard put to conceal a grin, but then asked in a more serious tone, "Umm… what about other female… feminine stuff?"

"Huh?" Mattie asked, at a temporary loss as to Catherine's meaning, but then as the penny dropped she blushed even more furiously, and dropping her eyes to stare at the pattern on the coverlet, mumbled "Uh… school nurse…"

"O-Kaaaay," Catherine answered, "Well, you're going to need bras and panties, and as much as it 'isn't you', you're going to need at least one dress, or a skirt and blouse and jacket combination…. For court," she added as she saw Mattie's look of incomprehension. "So I guess I need to take you shopping," and then as Mattie opened her mouth, her protest easily visible on her face, Catherine added, "Unless you'd rather Harm took you shopping… and you know what sort of dress he'd say was most suitable…"

"Crap! Yes! Oh… sorry, Catherine!"

"I should think so too!" Catherine half scolded and half laughed at Mattie's slip and her almost palpable embarrassment.

"Yeah, but he'd have me in a dress more suitable for a ten year old!" a still blushing Mattie protested.

"Exactly! And do you really want him to go with you to buy underwear?"

"God! No!" Mattie exploded, and then both she and Catherine burst into peals of laughter at the vehemence of her protests.

Still giggling they made their way back out to the living room from where they could see Harm bustling around the kitchenette, "Hey, Mats," he called, "Set the table will you, please?" before he noticed their amusement, "And what's tickled your collective funny bone?" he demanded suspiciously, only to become even more suspicious as Catherine and Mattie exchanged a look and then burst out into renewed laughter.

"Oh… just girl talk, Harm," Catherine assured him. "Absolutely nothing that you'd want…" and she paused an impish amusement dawning in her eyes as she realised that he'd just handed her the perfect opportunity for payback, "or_ need_ to know, and you have no idea how long I've waited to say that to you, sailor!" she finished.

Harm frowned for a moment, standing still with a spatula poised above the wok, puzzled not only by the emphasis she had put on the verb, but also at the end to her sentence, then as he recalled his delight at saying much the same thing to her, not all that long ago, his frown cleared, and he returned to stirring the prawns and vegetables, "Oh, I've actually got a pretty good idea, of just exactly how long," he grinned, as Mattie looked back and forth between the two, her eyes alight with curiosity.

Catherine raised a quizzical eyebrow, "Oh, really?" she said doubtfully as she took a few steps towards him.

"Oh yeah. I think I remember every conversation, if not every word, we've ever spoken to each other," Harm claimed.

Catherine felt her eyes prickle, and blinked a few times to clear her vision before she stood just in front of him, "Liar," she said softly and holding his shoulders for balance, she rose on her toes and kissed him gently on his lips, "but, I love you for that thought."

For a second both she and Harm froze as the import of what she'd said sunk into their brains but before either could say anything Mattie disturbed them, "Hey, I think something's burning!"

Harm swore softly as Catherine dropped he hands, allowing him to spin back to the stove and quickly lift the wok off the heat.

"So, we go hungry now?" Mattie challenged him.

"What? And leave me to cope with a hungry teenager and a hungry mom-to-be?" Harm replied in mock horror with an accompanying over-acted shudder, "I think not! No, all I need to do is to add just a sprinkle of this, and maybe just a scruple more of that, and perhaps just a hint more of garlic, and… I do believe the rice is ready."

Harm transferred the rice from the steamer to a large platter and then divided the stir-fry on to three plates placing them on the table where his two girls had already seated themselves.

Mattie stared and sniffed suspiciously at the food in front of her, the smell of the herbs and spices already, or so she felt, making her nose run and her eyes water, and she cautiously took a small portion on her fork and even more cautiously tasted it, only then becoming aware that both Harm and Catherine were watching her with guarded amusement. Mattie felt the colour rise in her cheeks again and she glowered at both in turn, "What?" she demanded, "Haven't you ever seen anyone eat stir-fry before?"

"Well… yes," Catherine answered, fighting to stop herself from bursting into laughter, "but never quite so… so…" she sought for the appropriate word, "suspiciously!"

Mattie contented herself with a brief glare at Catherine before turning back to Harm, "And what's your excuse?"

"Oh, I just wanted to make sure that mademoiselle is satisfied with my culinary efforts," he said airily.

"Oh." Mattie was silenced as she considered her response, not quite knowing how best to handle the teasing she knew she was getting, until her own sense of mischief came to her aid. She took another, larger, forkful and chewed it thoroughly, with an abstracted expression on her face and an unfocussed gaze at nothing in particular. "Well," she drawled eventually, signs of animation returning to her expression, "it's edible, I'll grant you that much… but it's a little bland… could you pass the soy sauce, please?"

Harm looked stunned for a second, before he regained his composure and stood to take the sauce from the cabinet above the kitchenette worktop, just as Catherine crowed with delighted laughter, "Oh, very well done, Mattie!"

Harm managed a grin as he re-took his seat, "Yeah, Bravo Zulu, squirt!"

Mattie's interest was engaged, "Bravo Zulu?" she queried, "What the he… what the heck's that?" she swiftly amended her sentence as his - and Catherine's - eyebrows started to climb.

"It's Navy-speak; it means well done, or good job," he explained to her, and then in slightly more severe tones, "Mattie, you are going to have watch how you speak. OK?"

Mattie squirmed slightly, "Yeah, I s'pose, but my father wasn't too fussy 'bout what he said, even when he wasn't drinking, so I guess I just sort of slipped into the habit, and then the guys at the hangar… well, I guess it's hard to say 'oh darn it' when you've just scraped all the skin off your knuckles… hey, that reminds me, you are about the only guy I knew around the hangar that didn't cuss and swear, an' I thought sailors cussed a lot?"

"Well, they do Mattie, but even the roughest sailor tries to moderate his language when he's around women and kids, and if he does make a slip, then he generally apologises for it. Cussing doesn't prove that you're big or hard, swearing only proves two things, firstly that you have a limited vocabulary, and secondly that you lack control. Besides, as the father of one my oldest friends once told us, if you cuss at the little things that go wrong in life, what are you going to say when something big goes belly-up and you really need a cussword?"

Mattie nodded thoughtfully, "Yeah… I guess you got a point there…"

"Yeah, I guess I do." Harm smiled to take any sting out of his words.

"And so do I," Catherine added as she pushed on the table to help herself rise from her chair, "Normally the cook doesn't do the washing-up, Harm; but I've had it for the day, so perhaps Mattie could help you?"

"What do you think, Mattie. Should we cut her some slack?"

Mattie cast a mock-jaundiced eye at Catherine, "She's going to play this pregnancy card right to the end, isn't she?" she said to Harm

"Darn straight I am!" Catherine smiled, "And then, once the baby's here, I'm going to play the new mom for just as long as I can, too!"

The clearing away completed and the dishes washed and dried Harm put the kettle on to make tea while Catherine and Mattie established themselves in front of the television and squabbled amicably about which of the nearly two hundred of Catherine's DVDs they should watch, settling eventually on a compromise between Mattie's desire for something to do with flying, and Catherine's wish for something light-hearted, by choosing to watch _Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines._

Harm, delivered the teas to the occasional table and then complete with baby oil, lavender essential oil and a towel, and while Mattie sat cross-legged on an ottoman, he joined Catherine on the couch, where covering his lap with the towel, he manoeuvred Catherine around until he could access her feet for a foot rub. After half an hour, during which he reduced Catherine to an almost catatonic state, he gently changed his position on the couch so that he now supported her head and shoulders against his chest while all three laughed at the on-screen antics of Red Skelton, James Fox and Sarah Miles and the rest of the ensemble cast.

The film finished, Harm gently prodded Mattie with a sock-clad foot, "Time for bed, young lady."

Mattie yawned, "Yeah, I guess. Goodnight Harm, 'night Catherine." And somewhat groggily she rose from the ottoman and headed towards her bedroom.

Harm eased himself from under Catherine's body and gathering up the cups, he rinsed and dried them, saying. "We'll have to give her ten minutes to clear the bathroom before we need it."

xiv-xiv-xiv-xiv-xiv

Despite Harm's claim for the need to give Mattie a ten minute period of grace, it was nearly an hour before he and Catherine finally slipped under the comforter on her bed. Harm lay still on his back as Catherine laid her head against his shoulder and propped her swollen belly against his hip.

"Did… did I… uh… embarrass you, earlier?" Catherine asked from the safety of the darkness, once the lights had been killed.

"When?" asked Harm

"When I said… when I said… that… I uh… loved you, for saying you remembered…" Catherine faltered.

"No, not all" Harm responded instantly, "I know just what you meant, and exactly where you were coming from! It's just a different form of words for saying thank you, and how much you appreciated what I said." But why, oh, why he asked himself, couldn't he just tell her that his heart had nearly stopped when she'd said that, and he had had the impulse to say something along the same lines in return. Because you're a coward, he told himself. No, he argued, I didn't say anything, because I don't know whether I love her or not, and I'm not going to pull a Renee or a Jordan on her.

Catherine relaxed, lying still and quiet, her head still tucked into the hollow of Harm's shoulder, relieved that he had chosen to accept her words as a thank you, rather than a declaration that had surprised her as much as it had him, and the truth of which she was unsure. As the tension, of which she had been unaware, drained from her body she felt and heard the slow thumping of his heart almost under her head, and letting a soft sigh escape her mouth, she closed her eyes, snuggled even closer into the circle of his arm and let herself be lulled to sleep.

xiv-xiv-xiv-xiv-xiv

Harm worked his left arm vigorously; it seemed that he and Catherine hadn't moved all night while asleep, consequently, when he had awoken some fifteen minutes ago he has still on his back with her head nestled even deep into his shoulder, the crown of her head almost tucked under his chin. As a consequence, his left arm had gone numb and his shoulder had gotten stiff. Now, as he stood under the stinging needles of hot water in the shower, he was still trying to relive the residual ache in his shoulder joint. His exercise was abruptly terminated by a hammering on the bathroom door and a frantic teenage voice, "Haaarm! I need to pee!"

Sighing, he turned off the hot water and quickly wrapping a towel around his waist, he unlocked the bathroom door only to be pulled through it by what seemed to a red, blue flannel handled mop which uttered a "Thank God!" before the bathroom door was slammed in his face, leaving him barefoot and still dripping on the carpet in Catherine's living room.

With a shrug and a wry grin, Harm headed back to the bedroom, hoping to at least to get dry and get his boxers on before Catherine woke up. Catherine was still asleep, and had compensated for his absence from her bed by dragging one of the pillows down so that it lay vertically along her body, supporting her bump and giving her arms something to hold on to. Harm looked at her for a long moment, her face was relaxed, still, calm and at peace, with just a couple of faint crow's feet lines at the corner of her eyes to indicate the passing of the years and the usually concealed sense of humour that lurked just below her apparently cool, no-nonsense exterior. Turning away with a smile, he shucked the towel from around his waist and energetically rubbed himself dry before reaching into his sea-bag and retrieving a clean pair of boxers and a fresh T-shirt, before he turned around to find two blue eyes staring appreciatively at him, the sense of humour he'd just been reflecting on evidenced by the gleam of amusement in those self-same eyes.

"H'mm… how old did you say you were?" Catherine asked lazily.

Harm regarded her quizzically for a few moments, he was sure that she was about to make some sort of age-relevant quip, but what form that quip might make he was ignorant, so sighing in resignation, and waiting for the shoe to drop, he sat on the edge of the bed, and leaning across planted a soft kiss on Catherine's lips before he said in trepidation, "I am forty…" then a thought struck him, "but you know that… you've read my file.." he accused her.

"Yes, I have," Catherine smiled, "but I wanted to hear you say it out loud, just so that I could say that you've got pretty good buns for an old man!"

Harm clapped a hand to his chest and groaned theatrically, "You couldn't have just said 'good morning'? You had to wound me to the heart instead?"

"Well, I could have," Catherine admitted, "but where would be the fun in that? But if it makes you feel any better," she propped herself on her elbow and her other hand snaked out to gently grasp the nape of his neck and draw him down to her as she raised herself and kissed him gently, "Good morning, sailor."

"Hey you, good morning," he replied, as he helped support her weight while she sank back on to the bed.

Fr a few moments more they stayed where they were, his finger tracing the delicate line of her cheek and jaw, as smiled up at him, until a growl from her stomach broke the moment and they both chuckled quietly.

"I'll get the breakfast started," Harm offered, "while you hit the bathroom. I got turfed out prematurely by Mattie, so she should be finished in there by now."

"Ah, I wondered why you were dripping all over my bedroom," Catherine smiled, "we'll have to do something about that, organise a rota, or an order of precedence."

"I don't really think that's going to solve the problem, Harm replied as he walked around to Catherine's side of the bed, to help her to her feet, "After all, when you gotta go, you gotta go, Just think about it, how much warning do you get when our baby starts pummeling your bladder?"

"True… not a lot. I mean, I was up twice during the night, and both times I just about made it…"

"See, that's exactly what I mean; if you had been that desperate and there'd been somebody else in the bathroom, then… Hey! What do you mean you were up twice during the night?"

Catherine gave him an odd look, "Of course I was up during the night, I'm up two or three times a night every night…"

"Oh, how come you didn't disturb me?"

"Because you sleep like a log! The only time you've ever woken was that once night at your place when I woke you up deliberately to turn the damn heating on! And the way you sleep so sound when I'm up in the wee small hours almost makes me hate you!"

Whatever good humour had been present when Catherine first woke up had obviously dissipated, and a shocked Harm suddenly realised the she was very near to tears, "Oh, Catherine," he said with a catch in his voice and he took a step towards her, only to be halted by her to hands raised palms facing him, as if she were about to push him away.

"No!" she said fiercely, "Don't! Don't touch me!"

Harm retreated a half-step, "Ok, OK, if you don't want me to, then I won't." His voice clearly reflected his bemusement as he asked, almost plaintively, "Just tell me what you want, and I'll try…"

"I want not be pregnant! I want my baby! I want my mom to be well, I want…" Catherine broke down and wept, sinking back in a seated position on the band and covering her face with her hands, while her tears trickled through her fingers.

Harm couldn't help himself, he could no more watch a woman in distress without offering comfort than he could fly without strapping on an airplane, he sat next to Catherine and greatly daring, he looped a long arm around her shoulders, and drew her gently against his chest, letting her cry until after long minutes her sobs degenerated to sniffles and then stopped. She stayed where she was for a few minutes more, cradled against his chest, but then wriggled against the restriction of his arm. Taking her movement as a signal she wanted to be released he dropped his arm and let her sit up, which she did without meeting his gaze, her own eyes fixed firmly on her hands now clasped in her lap.

"I… I… I'm… so sorry…" she offered tremulously, "I don't know what happened… one moment we were talking… and then… I got so mad at you… and then I got scared, and frightened… and…I felt so sad…"

Harm half turned towards her, one hand rising to rub gentle and, he hoped, comforting circles on her back, "Hey, it's alright," he soothed her, "anytime you want to get mad at me just go right ahead."

That did make her turn her face towards him, "Don't patronise me, Harm," she warned him in a half-plea, half-threat.

"I'm not," he defended himself gravely. "Well, not consciously anyway. Catherine, there is no way I can ever know what you're experiencing, all I can do is offer my unconditional support, and take my lumps when I have to…"

"But that's so unfair… I mean it isn't even your fault that I'm the way I am!" she protested, still somewhat tearfully.

"I know… but I'll tell you something: I wish it were my fault. That way you could whale on me without having to feel guilty about it. Oh, hell, whale on me anyway, just as much as you like, but just skip the guilt part, OK?"

The beginnings of a smile broke through her tear clouded face as she sniffled again, "What did I do to deserve you?" she demanded.

Harm tilted her face up to hid and again kissed her gently, "You said 'yes' to just about the craziest scheme anyone ever planned!"

Catherine's smile grew a little warmer and she nodded happily, not trusting herself to speak.

Harm stood again, and once more offered her his hands, "Come on then, let's get you started for the day, while I start breakfast. Pancakes OK?"

"M'mm, yeah… but with butter and marmalade, please?"

Harm blinked, "Butter and marmalade?"

"Yeah, and… oh… with sardines, too! The tinned ones in oil!"

"Sardines? I thought your craving was for cheese?"

"Cheese? No! Oh… now I _have_ got to go to the bathroom! Thank you so very much!"

Catherine's unexpected culinary demands meant another swift trip to the store for Harm, leaving Mattie to her own devices for twenty minutes, but with strict instructions to keep an eye on Catherine and to keep an open ear just in case she needed help while she was in the bathroom.

"So that means no too-loud music; and no headphones either!" he warned her sternly.

"Aye, aye, sailor!" she responded with a cheeky grin and a sloppy attempt at a salute. All of course without getting up from what seemed to be her favourite cross-legged position on the floor.

xiv-xiv-xiv-xiv-xiv

The morning had passed quickly enough. Breakfast had been slightly later than planned and Harm wished he'd had a camera to record the look of horror on Mattie's face as she'd watched as Catherine had worked her way through a stack of pancakes smothered in butter and smeared with thick-cut, somewhat bitter marmalade, accompanied by a can of the small, olive-oil saturated fish.

He also wished for a camera to capture the look of rapturous content on Catherine's face as she used the last of the pancakes to wipe her plate clean of the oil, butter and marmalade residue.

After breakfast and the cleaning down and squaring away of the kitchenette Harm had driven over to his apartment to collect his uniform for the morning and now the apartment was the scene of contented domestic activity. Mattie and Catherine had divided the Sunday paper, while Harm labored at the ironing board to restore razor-sharp creases to his shirt, jacket and pants, prior to grabbing a polishing cloth and a can of shoe polish to ensure that his shoes were properly spit-shone.

He drew a deep breath and smiled as he watched Catherine and Mattie playfully arguing over who should get which section of the paper next. Tomorrow he would be back in uniform for the first time since spring, but at the moment this felt like domestic bliss, and he'd willingly take as much of it as he could, and he reflected, his smile quirking into a wry grin, it probably still wouldn't be enough.

"Hey," he called out, bringing the wrangling between the two women to a stop, "Anyone got any thoughts as to what they might like for lunch?"

Mattie turned her own brilliant blue eyes on him, "Pizza?" she suggested hopefully.

Harm and Catherine exchanged a brief look, and grinned "No!" they chorused.


	15. Chapter 15

**15**

"This sucks!" Mattie grumbled as she gave her glass of milk a disgusted look.

"What does, kiddo?" Catherine asked smiling.

"Getting up too damn' early, and then having to wait to use the bathroom, and now no coffee!"

"Mattie, it's not too early. Catherine and I both have to leave by oh six thirty, and it's oh six twenty already! Yes, the bathroom is a problem, but it's only for a couple of weeks or so until we can move, so just like Catherine and me, you're going to have to grin and bear it!"

Mattie sighed despondently, "Yeah, OK, I get it… well, some of it, anyway. I mean, I know this is your first day back in the Navy, and all, and, hey, I gotta admit, you look pretty damn good in that sailor suit but…"

"Language!" Catherine and Harm chorused.

Mattie had the grace to blush, "Uh… yeah… sorry guys, but like I was saying, I get it why Catherine has to get up early to make it to the pool for her swim time, but I don't get now that Harm's back at work, he still has to go with you!"

"It's because I promised I would go with her every day she went," Harm said quietly.

"Well, yeah, but you weren't in the Navy then, and I used to cut you some slack if you were a bit late, but it's going to be difficult for you now, isn't it?"

"OK, I go because I promised I would. And the boss I had at the time, didn't cut me all that much slack," Harm grinned at her, and then looked up at the ceiling and said reminiscently, "In fact, I can remember a couple of times when I was little bit adrift that she was downright intense about it!"

Mattie glared at him for that, but decided she wouldn't force that particular issue, "OK, you say you promised, but Catherine, couldn't you have given him a get out of jail card?"

"Oh I did! But he... uh… turned it down…" Catherine smiled at Harm and slid her hand across the table to him.

Harm returned her smile, and gently covered her hand with his as she turned it palm upwards so that their fingers could interlace.

Mattie took one horrified look at their expressions and then dropped her gaze to their joined hands, raised her eyes to heaven and said plaintively, "Please, guys… enough! Don't do that, breakfast time is way too early!"

Catherine smiled, "Get used to it, kiddo! 'Cause it's gonna keep right on happening!"

"Yeah, a lot!" Harm agreed, and then swallowed the last mouthful of his tea. Then he stared thoughtfully at Mattie for a few seconds, "What sort of plans have you got for the day?"

Mattie shrugged carelessly, "Hadn't really thought about it," she admitted, "it's kinda weird not having to go in to the hangar, you know?" she cocked her head at him in a silent plea for understanding. "I might take a walk around the neighbourhood, get a feel for the place… And maybe, I could snoop along your bookshelf, Catherine?"

"Of course!"

Harm nodded, in some ways the whole timing thing for this past weekend sucked, but they'd have to make the best of it, and work out some sort of plan. Last night had been taken up with making Mattie welcome and getting her settled in. Harm suddenly had the uneasy feeling that as far as problems on that front went, he hadn't seen anything yet.

Harm nodded, "OK, you can go out and do a bit of exploring, but don't go too far, and watch yourself; there are some pretty strange folk out there in the city. So, don't talk to anyone, and if you feel threatened in any way, just find a store with a female behind the counter or at the till." Harm paused for breath and then pulled his wallet out of his inside breast pocket, and peeled off a couple of bills. "There's ten dollars, use it to buy yourself some lunch. There are a couple of places you can get a simple lunch just down the street a way. Tonight, we'll figure out something better for the future." He smiled reassuringly, "OK?"

"Sure," Mattie gave them both a huge, sunny smile, "Hey, I'm a big girl, I'll be fine!"

Catherine dug out her key ring, and nodded in satisfaction, as she unsnapped two keys. "OK, keys for the door to the lobby and to the apartment, don't lose them, OK?"

"Relax, Catherine, I've been looking after keys for a long time!"

"I'm sure you have, kiddo! But just don't lose them…" then another thought struck. "Oh… and I'm not expecting any deliveries today, so don't let anyone in… and in fact don't open the door without using the spy-hole, and if anyone says they're from the gas, TV or telephone companies, make sure they have an ID!

"Yes, ma'am!" Mattie replied with a carefree grin, "I got all that! Now, somebody was saying that they were going to be late?"

"They did," Harm agreed, "Have a fun day… if you can," he added wryly, "and I'll be back around seventeen thirty to take you up to Pimmet Hills." And as he saw Mattie's look of incomprehension, he smiled "We're going to visit with Catherine's Mom for a while this evening."

"Oh, wow! Cool! Catherine, your mom's the greatest!"

With a chorus of goodbyes Harm and Catherine left the teenager on her own, looking ruefully at the breakfast wreckage on the table. "And I guess I get stuck with the kitchen chores!" she half grumbled. It was however, a small price to pay, she conceded. Even in the less than twenty four hours she'd been here she'd slept better, been warmer, better fed and more relaxed than she had been for months. It was just a pain in the ass that Harm and Catherine were both such worry worts!

xv-xv-xv-xv-xv

Harm walked Catherine to where their cars were parked in the Yorktown Swim Club parking lot, his hand at the small of her back and his head close enough to hers to smell the faintly floral shampoo she was using now, her stomach would no longer allow her to use the heavier vanilla scented shampoo she had used for years. Not that Harm was complaining, he liked the way she smelled, fresh from the shower after her morning swim, and he liked the way she felt against his arm when he slipped it around her waist as an aid to turn her towards him. They had slipped into the habit of using these few minutes each morning to recap on, or if necessary change, their day's plans.

"So… I'll leave work at seventeen hundred, and go straight back to your place to collect Mattie, and bring her direct to the Kresge," Harm repeated.

"Right. Don't forget to try and make time and contact some moving companies. Time's running out. We've got two places to pack up, don't forget and we'll need boxes at both our addresses!"

"Yes, ma'am! And how many boxes should we get, do you reckon?"

"Good question counselor!" Catherine thought for a few seconds, "We're talking books, clothes, kitchen stuff and other small stuff, right? So… say twenty boxes at each address, and if we run out, then we can always get more. And if you don't have time to call the movers today, then let me know and I'll do it!"

"Catherine, if I've got time to call you, then I've got time to call the movers!" Harm expostulated.

"Not necessarily so, sailor! You'd have to explain everything to the movers; with me all you to say is that I need to call them…"

"Yeah, but…"

"But today isn't my first day in a new job! But it is yours, so get going, sailor, before you're late!" Taking hold of his forearms in a now familiar move, she raised herself on her toes and lifted her face to his for a swift, soft kiss. "Now, git a-going!" she commanded with a smile.

"Yes, ma'am," Harm replied in an exaggerated drawl, "I'm a-fixing to do just that!" But despite his words, he stood by the door of her car until she'd settled herself in and buckled her seat belt, grimacing against its constriction, before she threw him another smile and pulled the door shut. Harm stood back and waited for Catherine to move off towards the parking lot entrance before he hurried to the Lexus, and in his turn, headed in the opposite direction towards his new duty station.

xv-xv-xv-xv-xv

Harm looked up from the stack of forms on his desk, it felt like he'd written his life story three times over this morning as he'd worked through the incredible amount of paperwork that his 'in-processing' for his new billet seemed to require, and there had been only two interruptions when Tracy Manetti's - and he supposed shortly his - Yeoman, Barker, had brought him a cup of coffee, which to his surprise was far better that he'd thought it would have been - although he acknowledged that the coffee-drought on the home front might have sharpened his taste buds - so the sharp double tap on his office doorjamb held the promise of a welcome break.

"Enter!" he called out, and then his face split in a smile as Tracy Manetti stuck her head around the edge of the door.

"Well, that surely is a nice smile, is it just for me, or just because you get a break from pen-pushing?" she teased in her soft Virginia accent.

"Oh… always for you, Tracy," he grinned, "What can I do for you?"

"Oh… it's more what I can do for you…" she smiled, although the teasing note was still in her voice. For an instant Harm's mind flashed back to a hotel room in Naples and an image of Tracy Manetti, fresh out of his shower, her wet hair hanging way down her back, and dressed only in a towel.

Harm's mouth suddenly went dry, and he felt a flash of anger at himself, but swallowing hard, he found his voice at last, "Oh…" he leaned back against his chair and, "do tell?" he invited her.

"It's twelve twenty hours, Harm, have you given up on doing lunch?"

Harm glanced at his watch for confirmation of the time, surprised that not only had he lost track, but also that the morning had sped past so quickly when filling out the forms had seemed so irksome. Cracking a rueful grin, "I'll be right with you!" he promised as he shuffled the papers on his desk into a stack and carefully locked them in his desk drawer, before retrieving his cover from the coat hook on the back of the door. Joining Tracy, who had been watching his antics with an indulgent half-smile, in the hall, he smiled and said, "Madam, will we walk?"

"We will indeed," she replied cheerfully, "and thankfully it's not too far to go for our cafeteria."

"Our cafeteria?" he responded with a quizzical look at Tracy.

"Oh, yes. I won't go so far as to say that we are only allowed to use the one cafeteria, but there are dozens of them in this complex, and this one is the most convenient! The food isn't great, but then again, what cafeteria food is!"

"Alas, too true!" he laughed.

Once safely seated with their lunch in front of them Tracy looked across the table at Harm, a question evident in her expression. Harm put his fork down with a sigh, "Go on, whatever you're dying to ask, just get it over with!"

Tracy managed a half-smile and asked gently, "Harm, I'm a little worried about you. I know most of what's happened in your life for the last year or so. The navy, JAG in particular, have treated you pretty badly, and I just want to know are you really happy to be back, or is this just a way to get in your twenty and out?"

Harm breathed a silent sigh of relief, for a few moments he had been afraid that Tracy was going to question him about his relationship with Catherine and what had happened between him and Mac and "Why so concerned, Tracy?"

Tracy gave a little, half-embarrassed laugh, "Naples," she replied succinctly.

"Huh? I mean, I beg your pardon?"

Tracy's smile grew wider and more amused "Your hotel room. You were a perfect gentleman then, you didn't ogle – well not too much anyway. You did your best to put me back at ease, even though you felt the awkwardness of the situation, and as a nary a word has ever come back to me, I can only assume that you remained the gentleman and never breathed a word to another living soul. And guess that kind of endeared you to me."

Harm dabbed his lips with his napkin, took a drink of water and dabbed his lips again, "Tracy, I won't say that I have ever forgotten that day. The picture of you stood there will be one I shall long cherish!"

"Why, Commander Rabb! You surprise me sir!" Tracy protested with a blush, "It seems that you are not quite so gallant after all!"

"Yep," Harm continued dreamily, as if she had not interrupted, "The look on your face when I opened the door was absolutely priceless! Priceless!"

Tracy couldn't help herself, she broke into a gurgle of laughter, "Harm, that is too bad of you! Mind, now that I come to think of it, the look on your face was pretty memorable too!"

"I daresay it was," he agreed as he again took up his fork.

"But you still haven't answered my question, Harm, so stop stalling and deflecting. Are you happy to be back?"

Cornered and without a graceful way to wriggle free, Harm favoured Tracy with a glare to which she seemed impervious as she sat quietly, an expression of interest on her face. Once more he sighed, this time audibly, and said, "Almost ever since I can remember I wanted to be a naval aviator… that didn't work out too well…"

Tracy nodded, she knew of his early career.

"I had the chance then to take medical retirement, but I didn't. I got back to fitness levels, enough to convince the board that I could stay in. By that time I suppose the navy had become more important to me than the flying, so I guess that I had become more of a naval officer, not just an aviator. So I defined myself as that officer. I only gave up my commission under pressure. The values that the navy had instilled into me, loyalty, honour, comradeship, mutual support and even simple human decency and humanity no longer seemed to apply, so when orders conflicted with those core values, I gave up the then second most important thing in my life. I resigned. I was still an aviator, though, so I went on flying… for the wrong people perhaps, but it gave me time to regain some perspective, and as I regained that perspective I realized I was working for people who had even less regard for those core values than the navy had, I still defined myself by those values, so maybe I was underneath it all, still a navy officer. Now I'm lucky enough to be able to come back, and although this is my first day back in blue, I already feel as if I've come home. As for twenty and out… well, I'd like to stay on past that, but I doubt very much I'll be allowed to. I'll never see Captain, and eventually I'll be so far above zone that the navy will get rid of me. When that day comes I'll deal with it, in the meantime, I'll be settled and by the time that day rolls around Mattie will be an adult, and Catherine and I will have enough to devote ourselves to raising a family. So, all in all, yes, Tracy, I'm happy to be back."

Tracy placed her knife and fork on her empty plate, "Good, I'm glad that you're happy. And I'm glad too that you're back. I know I'm probably biased towards him, but Mister Sheffield isn't a bad man, Harm, he tries to do the right thing, but he is a politician, and so he needs, and JAG needs, hell, the navy needs somebody with those core values. Sheffield_ will _generally try to do the right thing but you may have to nudge him back on to the right path when he begins to stray, and remember that he is not entirely a free agent either, and has to bow to the dictates of the party line."

Harm stared suspiciously across the table at her, wondering if she was playing some sort of angle, but she held his gaze openly and without any hint of subterfuge, and eventually he nodded and said, "OK, I think I hear a note of advice there, I'll bear it in mind!"

"Well, I am so relieved, that you concur, Commander!" she teased him, "but it's time we were heading back to our drudgery! Can you find the way, Harm?"

Of course I can, I'm a pilot… we're never lost!"

"Of course not," Tracy smiled.

xv-xv-xv-xv-xv

"Not a word, now. Do you hear? Not a word!"

"Of course, not Commander. Besides, I've used all my breath on our wanderings through the Pentagon, I didn't know you were such an accomplished tour-guide," Tracy chuckled as she dived through the door of her own office, leaving a reluctantly grinning Harm and desperately straight-faced Legalman Two Barker in the outer office.

Harm cast a wry grin at Barker, "And that's quite enough from too, young lady!" he admonished her.

Barker's "Aye, aye, sir!" only just escaped being mangled by a giggle.

Giving as grunt that might have meant anything, a red-faced Harm hurried into his temporary office and sat behind his desk, his hand reaching for the 'phone.

"_Legal department, Catherine Gale_."

"Hi, Catherine, it's me…"

"_Oh… let me guess, it's nearly two o'clock, and you've worked right through lunch and you haven't had time to call the movers_?"

"Umm… not quite right, but, yeah, that's the bare bones of it…"

Harm could hear the sudden note of amusement in Catherine's voice, "_OK, sailor, what happened_?"

"Nothing happened, nothing at all!" he said defensively.

Catherine's gurgle of laughter was plain to hear as she replied, "_Yeah…. Riiight_," and then came a definite giggle, "_OK sailor, I'll get on to it_! _But I will get the truth this evening, even if I have to sit on you while Mattie tickles you to death_!"

"Yeah, good luck with that!" Harm grinned, Catherine's laugh was too infectious to withstand, "But you will call the movers, right?"

"_Of course_!"

"Thanks, spook!"

Harm shook his head as he hung up, and unlocking his desk drawer, he quickly re-read the last of the forms he had completed and hastily scrawling his signature across the bottom of each page, he re-stacked them and carried them out to Barker, "You know where these go?" he asked.

"Not me sir," she smiled up at him, "but I know a man that does!"

"Thanks, Legalman."

xv-xv-xv-xv-xv

Once Mattie had washed up and put away the breakfast things – not 'policed' them nor 'squared them away' thank you very much, she told herself – she went back to bed for a couple of hours, but like she'd told Harm and Catherine, it felt odd not going in to work in the hangar – and after mooching somewhat disconsolately around the apartment for a while and looking in vain for something interesting to read on Catherine's bookshelf, she stuck her feet into her trainers and pulling on her padded jacket headed for the streets to take advantage of Harm's permission to explore the neighbourhood a little.

It didn't take too long for Mattie to wander down the tree-lined streets of old, row houses that eventually brought her out onto Wisconsin Avenue, where despite her usual confidence, the volume and noise of the traffic, both vehicular and pedestrian dissuaded her from crossing the street. After a minute or two of hesitation, Mattie turned right and walked down to the next major junction at M street. Looking both left and right, her eyes lit up. Alright! This is what the city was all about! Hustle and bustle, people going places with a definite purpose obvious in the way they walked and in their body language, and shops! And doubtless somewhere where she could buy a coffee! Apart from the ten dollars Harm had given her at breakfast, she had a few dollars of her own tucked into her jeans pocket, so she figured she'd be able to get a coffee now and still be able to afford a coffee and a sandwich for lunch. With that resolve fully formed Mattie turn to her left this time and waiting for the lights hurried across the cross-walk and then slowly strolled along the sidewalk, window shopping, amazed at not only the range of goods available but also, and with a sinking feeling, at the their prices, until her nose caught the aroma of freshly brewed coffee, stopping still Mattie slowly turned, scanning the surrounding shops, but without success. Frustrated, and letting that frustration overcome prudence, she approached a young woman pushing a stroller, "Excuse me, ma'am," Mattie half-smiled, "I've… I've woken up and smelled the coffee… but I can't see the coffee shop?"

The woman looked at her suspiciously for a moment, and then nodded to an arched opening between two shops on the other side of M Street, "There's a Starbucks just across and down the street a piece, right next door to Hagen-Das," she grudgingly allowed, nodding her head to indicate the direction she meant, and was rewarded by Mattie's sunshine smile, "Yes, ma'am, thank you!"

The young woman shrugged, slightly taken aback, it was a rare thing to be stopped and asked for directions, and even rarer to receive such a warm smile and a cheerful thank you in return. With a smile now on her face, the young mother exerted just a tad more pressure on the handle of her infant's stroller and pushed on up the street.

xv-xv-xv-xv-xv

His in-processing paperwork completed, Harm had been advised by Tracy to hold himself ready for an interview with Secretary Sheffield, and in the meantime, until he'd been tasked, he might want to read himself in on the current crop of concerns that were occupying the SecNav's mind, bearing in mind that he, Harm, was still waiting for his revised and up-rated security classification.

A knock on his office door suggested that the SecNav had finally decided to call Harm in for his interview, so he was not surprised to see Legalman Two Barker appear in the doorway, her words however were as surprise, "Just to let you know, sir, that unless you have anything for me, I'm standing down for the day…"

Harm once again checked his watch, and much to his dismay and chagrin discovered that he had let the time run away with him twice in one day, and furthermore he was now impossibly late in picking up Mattie at Catherine's apartment. Hastily securing the file he had been reading in his desk drawer, he stood and asked Barker, "Is the SecNav still here?"

"No, sir. He left about fifteen minutes ago…"

"Fine… let me grab my cover, Legalman, and I'll walk you out!"

"Thank you, sir," Baker replied, fighting back a smile, and thinking that if his lunchtime experience had anything to do with it, then the handsome Commander's offer, was really a plea for her to guide him back through the labyrinth.

"So… how was your first day, sir?" Barker asked as they strode the hallways heading for their designated exit.

Harm smiled, the young woman was obviously just talking to alleviate any awkwardness between them, "It was pretty… slow… thank you, Legalman."

"I'm sure it will get more interesting PDQ, sir. I have Commander Manetti's itinerary for the rest of the week, and most of it is earmarked for your in-briefing, sir."

"Yes, I have it too. You get on well with Commander Manetti, don't you Barker?"

Barker delayed a couple of seconds before she answered, "I like to think so, sir."

Harm turned his head to look at her, "Are you planning to get on well with me? Or do you have other hopes or plans?"

"Permission to speak freely, sir?" Barker asked, a frown just discernible on her face.

"Of course!" Harm replied, just a little astonished at the request, but then realizing that no matter how well he and Barker had gotten on so far, he was still just as much of an unknown quantity as she was to him.

"Well, sir, I have put in application to BUPERS for re-assignment… to JAG HQ at Falls Church. No offence meant sir, it's not that I don't think we couldn't work together, sir, it's just that apart from being used to Commander Manetti's ways, I'm halfway through my current shore duty rotation, and I am a Legalman, not a Yeoman, and I need to get back into a more legal-oriented billet, and keep my legal training in-date."

"A very good point, Barker. Thank you for that! So… you think that a billet here is detrimental to a Legalman's career?"

"No sir! It could help, a Pentagon billet looks damn good on your SRB, and to come away from that billet with a good fitrep is an added bonus. It would make any future CO sit up and take notice, sir, and there are a lot of Legalmen chasing very few promotions the higher up the ladder they get, sir!"

"Ok, OK, you've convinced me, no insult intended, and no offence taken. In fact, thank you for being so honest. H'mm, I wonder…"

"Wonder what, sir?"

"Oh? Oh, nothing… It's just that I have another Legalman in mind who might be willing to fill your billet… and as she's already at Falls Church… a straight exchange of billets between you might make the whole idea easier to sell to BUPERS. Remind me about this conversation tomorrow, if you please, Barker," Harm concluded as they approached the security desk.

"Aye, aye, sir! And thank you sir!"

Harm looked at the young woman, wondering what on earth she had to thank him for, but contented himself with a grin that made Barker go weak at the knees. 'Damn, it's so unfair,' she complained silently to herself, 'why, oh why, did he have to be an officer!'

xv-xv-xv-xv-xv

After fretting through the nearly fifteen minutes it took to clear the Pentagon's congested parking lot as the vast complex emptied at the end of the working day, Harm broke just about every traffic law in the book in his hurry to get back to Georgetown and drew up outside Catherine's apartment block with an audible application of the brakes.

Before he had a chance to even switch off the ignition the passenger door opened to reveal a red-nosed Mattie who gave him a flat stare and said, without any particular emphasis, "You're late."

"Oh, and hi to you too Squirt, and how was your day?" Harm replied with heavy irony as the teenager settled herself into the passenger seat and buckled her seat belt.

"It was pretty good, until about half an hour ago," Mattie answered, giving him a sidelong look, "but that was before I near froze my as… uh… my butt off, waiting for a sailor. Is that how it's going to be for the rest of my life?"

Harm nearly choked over his reply as he ran just some of the implications of Mattie's question through his mind, "It had better not be!" he answered her in severe accents, as he re-engaged the gears, "I don't want you hanging around anywhere waiting for sailors!"

"Not even for you?" she shot back at him, "Although I shouldn't have been surprised you were late, after all, even when you were working for me, you kept me waiting!"

Harm relaxed slightly as the warmth of the car had a mellowing effect on a pretty thoroughly chilled Mattie's mood and took the sharp edge off her tongue. "I'm sorry, Mats, really, I am. But today has been pretty darn busy, and I hadn't realized that at endex the parking lots would get so grid-locked. It took me fifteen minutes just to get out of the parking lot. But I promise you, I won't make that mistake again!"

Mattie turned her head to look directly at him, a gleam of amusement just beginning to show in her eyes, "Yeah, OK. Because it's your first day, I'll let you off with a grumble!" and she waited for his response.

His response, when it came after a five second pause, was laden with sarcasm, "Aw, gee, Mattie, that's really big of you!"

"Yeah it is, isn't it?" Mattie said complacently, "I wonder if Catherine's going to be so understanding!"

"Ow! Mattie! That's playing dirty!" Harm protested, rather more than half-seriously.

"Hey, don't blame me!" Mattie defended herself and added with an air of innocent virtue, "After all, I was ready on time!"

Harm shot a look of despair at her, "You're not going to let this rest are you?" her asked.

"Of course I am!" Mattie giggled, "Eventually!"

Harm was a military man and knew when an orderly retreat was better than a defeat, so biting his lip, he turned his full attention to the road, doing his best to ignore the looks and the muffled giggling snorts emanating from his passenger.

Pulling in to the parking lot at the Kresge medical centre in Pimmett Hills, he found a parking spot just two cars down from Catherine's Malibu, and applying the parking brake he switched off the engine, and turned to Mattie, "Leaving aside the question of my tardiness, remember that Catherine's mom doesn't need to be over-excited, OK Mats?"

Mattie sobered almost instantly, "Yeah, I got it, Harm."

Harm smiled, "I knew you would Mats, but I just had to be sure you remembered."

Mattie nodded, "Yeah, I remember, so power down on the exuberance, right?"

"Right!"

Catherine was sat in a chair beside mother's bed when Harm and Mats walked into the room. Esther was alert and cheerful and looked much fitter than she had at Harm's last visit just before the weekend, and greeted their entrance with her mischievous smile and bright eyes, crying out, "Well, it's about time Commander! Mattie, couldn't you have gotten him here any earlier?"

Crossing to her bedside Harm bent and kissed her offered cheek, before turning to Catherine and gently kissing her, as Mattie perched on the far side of the bed and accepted a hug and a kiss from Esther.

"Well, I was ready on time ma'… uh… Esther… and," she added with an accusatory glare at Harm, "I had to wait outside in the cold for a good half an hour before he arrived!"

"Oh, I don't doubt you were ready on time, Mattie, but Harmon -that's just too bad of you, making her wait outside in the cold!" Esther scolded him, but with laughter still dancing in her eyes and voice.

"Oh, I'm used to him being late, Esther, he used to work for me remember?"

Harm swiftly interrupted, "OK, Esther, I'll admit it; I was late, but I must point out in my defence that there are mitigating circumstances! But," he continued as three female mouths opened to dispute him, "my apparent tardiness is not the subject we are to discuss… How are you Esther, you're looking exceptionally well, and in you seem to be in exceptionally high spirits too!

"Oh, it's like I was just telling Catherine, I was so tired last week… and I'm so sorry I couldn't stay awake for your visit… but anyway the doctor – Doctor Cameron, you haven't met her yet, she's new here – she was a little concerned, and had them take some more blood – look!" she pulled up the sleeve of her bed-jacket to reveal a mottled yellow and purple bruise at the crook of her elbow, "and they did some tests on it, and it turned out I was anaemic! So," she chuckled, "I've now got iron tablets to take daily! I swear," she continued merrily, "that if you were to pick me up and shake me, I'd rattle – but I do feel much more energetic and alert than I did even just a few days ago!"

"Oh, wow! That is so cool!" Mattie chirped giving Esther an extra hug.

"Yes, it is!" Harm agreed, "even if it does give you more energy to abuse a poor but honest sailor!"

Esther laughed outright at that, "So, how does it feel to be back in uniform Harm?" she asked him, a gentle smile still on her face but her eyes and voice openly conveying her concern.

Harm leaned forward and picked up her hand in both of his, raising it to his lips, where he planted a soft kiss on her knuckles, and then lowering her hand, but keeping hold of it, he looked her in the eyes, "It feels good, Esther, very good! I'll be honest with you, this has been a very a tough year, but there have been good things that have come out of it too, I met and got to know Catherine, I met you and even though I left the navy and got canned from the…" he gave a guilty glance at Catherine at his near slip of the tongue, "from the State Department, but if it hadn't had been for that then I would never have gotten to know Mattie, and that was a good thing. And what's more…" he continued heavily in a further attempt to stem interruptions, "If, and I say if, Catherine has got her dates right, there's every chance of one more good thing arriving before the year's end! And now I'm back in uniform, it feels like the wheel has turned full circle, and for the first time in a long time, I feel free to enjoy life again!"

Esther freed her hand from his loose grasp and reaching up she laid gentle fingers on his cheek, and said softly, "Oh, I am so very, very happy for you too, Harmon."

Harm looked into her sympathetic eyes, and for a fleeting moment was reminded of his Gramma Sarah, who was so very different in a lot of ways from Esther Gale, but shared with her a deep sense of compassion. Unable to convey those feelings, he merely took Esther's hand in his again, and once more pressing his lips to her knuckles, he contented himself with a simple "Thank you."

Mattie and Catherine had exchanged looks as they became aware of the heightened emotions that threatened to break loose, and with a shaky laugh, Catherine rebuked Harm and Esther, "Hey, enough of that mom, he's mine! If you want one, go and find your own sailor!"

"Catherine, as soon as I'm on my feet again, I might do just that, and if I catch one, well then you've only yourself to blame if I change my will in his favour!"

"I do know a couple of good guys that are still single…" Harm mused in a barely audible voice.

Catherine gave him a look of mock-absolute loathing before she answered her mother. "If you intend to cut me out of your will mom, then I'll give you fair warning! Don't come to me to have a new one drawn up!"

"But if I go to another attorney, I'll have to pay for a new will!"

"Yes, that's correct, mom, you will!"

"Unless," she said ruminatively, her eyes once again sparkling with mischief, "I could persuade a handsome young pilot turned lawyer to do it for me, how do they say it… _pro-bono_?"

"Oh, no, Esther… that is not going to happen!" an alarmed Harm retorted, "Esther, I love you to pieces, but if I'm going to live with Catherine, then I need at least some few moment of domestic harmony to make the cares of the day disappear! Can you imagine the hell I'd have to try and survive if I drafted the will?"

The three women exchanged looks of amusement and almost simultaneously accused him "Chicken!"

"Yep, that's me!" Harm cheerfully agreed, provoking a burst of laughter from Catherine, Mattie and Esther.

"I'm sorry to break up this party," the smiling petite brunette nurse interrupted from the doorway, "but visiting hours_ are_ over, and Mrs Gale needs her meds and then, I'm afraid we're going to have to settle her down for the night."

Catherine nodded and held out a hand for Harm to help her to her feet, "Mom, we're going to have to do as the nurse tells us, and we're beginning to pack ready for the move from tomorrow, so I don't know when we'll all be in to see you next…"

"But, one of us will sneak in for a half an hour or so each day," Harm intervened, "even if it's just to keep you up to date with how many boxes we've packed, and how many more we reckon we've got to do. Won't we?" he started meaningfully at Catherine.

Catherine eyes suddenly misted over at Harm's thoughtfulness towards her mother, and her hand dived into her purse in search of a Kleenex, and then blowing her nose, she said, "Of course, one of us, every day, and we'll even sneak Mattie in with us!"

Esther Gale hugged in each in turn as they kissed her goodbye and smiled happily as the trio left her room. Waiting for a few seconds until she judged they were out of earshot, she smiled even more as she turned to Nurse Halloran and said, "You know, I am a very lucky old woman!"

Bridget Halloran stopped measuring out Esther's medicine's, "No," she smilingly disagreed, "I think that they're a very lucky family to have you!"

Harm, Catherine and Mattie stopped by the parked cars, "Take Mats home with you, please Catherine. I'll call ahead to that place on O Street, and I'll swing by and pick up our dinner. Do you need anything from the store?"

Catherine thought hard for a moment or two. "Just some sparkling cider, say two bottles? I can't think of anything else for the moment."

Harm flipped her a casual salute, "On it, boss!" he replied, and leaning in gave her a kiss. It started out as a soft gentle kiss, such as they had exchanged many times in the very recent past, but somehow it became more passionate and deeper than either had intended. Breaking off the kiss, eventually, they both stood and stared wonderingly into each other's eyes, until their reverie was broken by Mattie's plaintive but half-amused, "Either get a room or stop embarrassing me in public, please!"

Without taking her eyes from Harm's face, Catherine unconsciously echoing the words she had used at breakfast, replied, "Get used to it Mattie, because it's gonna keep right on happening, and I have a feeling that we're going to be embarrassing you in public for a long time yet!"

"O yeah," Harm replied huskily, "Get used to it, Squirt!"

Mattie looked from one to the other and as she shook her head, said despairingly. "Grown-ups! And I'm the one who's supposed to have raging hormones!"


	16. Chapter 16

**16**

Harm pushed his chair back from his desk, linked his fingers behind his head, leaned back and stretched, holding the position for a few long seconds and then allowed himself gradually to relax, feeling the tension ooze out of his body as he did so.

It was the end of his second week as head military legal advisor to the SecNav, working closely with Anne Prescott, the General Counsel of the Navy , the SecNav's chief civilian legal advisor, and now having read himself into the position, and taken over Tracy Manetti's workload – much of it routine, thankfully – he had also moved into her office and, despite his protests, behind her desk, while she had arranged for a folding table to be brought in and had worked from that as they had gone through the process of handover and takeover.

Feeling her eyes on him now, he tilted his head towards her, and seeing the smile on her face, he raised an inquiring eyebrow, "Something amusing you Commander?" he asked, his own lazy grin not far from the surface.

"Why, Commander… I was just admiring your capacity for relaxation under the most unusual circumstances," she replied in her attractive, light Virginian drawl.

Harm looked at her suspiciously. He had learned during the course of their previous acquaintance that Tracy Manetti had a very dry, droll even, sense of humour, and he was sometimes unable to tell whether she was being serious or not. Something to do with the profiling course she had done with the fibbies he assumed, the way she was able to put up a shield to guard her thoughts.

But, "Unusual circumstances?" was all he said.

"Why, yes. You've got all the stress and strain of reading yourself into a new job; then at the same time, you're preparing and packing two apartments ready to move into a new house, with a new baby on the way and then all the CPS hoops to jump through to get custody of Mattie. You should be a bundle of nerves, but you're not… you're just stretching out just like one of Daddy's coon hounds after a run through the woods!"

Harm grinned, "One of daddy's coon dogs? he queried, "That's the first time I've ever been compared to a hound dog! Oh, well, there's a first time for everything! And as for not stressing about it all, well there's a little story I've recently been told that just about points up the futility of that!"

Tracy sat a little straighter in her chair, "Oh, Commander, I do love stories!"

Harm looked across the office at her, yes, that was definitely a tease. OKaaay… Tracy Manetti was just about to learn a lesson. She thought he was bluffing? Very well.

"Yeah, it's a story that goes back to the First World War, where there are two Tommies, sitting in a trench one night. One of the guys is an old hand, the other is a rookie, and is showing his nerves. Well the old hand lights up his pipe, leans back against the wall of the trench and says to the rookie, 'Worried, son?', and the kid says, 'Yeah, I'm worried.' The older guy says, 'It's not worth it. Look at this way: You're either in the army or you're not. If you're not in the army, why worry? If you're in the army, you're either at the front, or you're not. If you're not at the front, why worry? If you're at the front, then the Jerries are either shooting at you, or they're not. If they're not shooting at you, why worry? If they are shooting at you, then they either hit you or they don't. If they don't hit you, why worry? If they hit you, you're either dead or not. If you're not dead, you'll be going home, so why worry, and if you're dead, then you can't worry. So, just goes to show son, worrying never was worthwhile!'"

Harm paused, waiting for Tracy's reaction. She did not keep him waiting long, as she burst into laughter.

"Harm that's one the most ridiculous things I've ever heard! But, it's also one of the most logical! You'll have to write that down for me sometime!" she said as she recovered her breath and wiped her eyes. Then she continued shrewdly, "But that's a bit of change of direction for you isn't it? I mean. I won't say you're a worrier, but you do tend to not let up once you've gotten you're teeth into something!"

"You say that like it was a bad thing," he observed quietly, all the while watching her keenly.

"No, not necessarily a bad thing," she answered slowly, but it can – and pardon me if I'm out of line – and it has, in your case, from time to time slipped over into obsession."

Harm winced at her straightforward no-nonsense approach. It was one of things he liked about Tracy, but it wasn't quite so admirable when directed against himself, or so he had just discovered.

"Yeah… well… what can I say?" he shrugged with a rather shamefaced grin, "You're right, it did slip into obsession from time to time, and it is something I've only learned recently, I discovered I need to let go of some things if I was to have any chance at… well, It was a hard lesson to learn, but with some help from my friends, I think I'm learning it." He hesitated, before adding in slight embarrassment, "and I'd like to think you were one of those friends, Tracy."

"Why, thank you, Harm. I'd like that, and I'd like to think the reverse was also true!"

"Yeah, I'd like that too… And Tracy, as a friend, I need to ask a small favour…" Harm fidgeted a little restlessly, a circumstance not lost on Tracy.

However, she refrained from commenting on his apparent discomfort, merely tilting her head to one side and raising an eyebrow.

The expression of interest on her face was sufficient encouragement for Harm to lean forward with his elbows on the desk, "Yeah, when you report for duty on Monday… at Falls Church… I would be grateful if, unless you were directly asked, not to mention who took your billet here…"

"You think scuttlebutt won't already have reached the suburbs?" Tracy's tone was a mixture of doubt and amusement.

Harm shrugged, "It probably has, but as you know, I left Falls Church under less than satisfactory circumstances, and since then I've had one or two… ah… differences of opinion with the Admiral, and with Colonel MacKenzie. I'm not certain as to how far along the road to his resignation the Admiral has gone, so I'm not sure who is actually sitting in the big chair today, and despite all that has passed between us, I don't wish relations between the Admiral and myself to get any worse…"

Tracy nodded her head, she too could see no point in further inflaming that particular situation, but her curiosity compelled her to ask, "And what about your links to Colonel MacKenzie?"

Harm gave a short bark of laughter, "There are no links between Mac and myself!" he retorted, and then in response to the doubting expression creeping over Tracy's face, he added, "Whatever possibility there might have been of us ever having any links other than working links was killed in Paraguay when the good Colonel made it abundantly clear that there would 'never' be an 'us'."

Tracy gave her head a slight shake. This was almost more than was comprehensible, even in the short time she had been at JAG the bonds of attachment between Harm and Sarah MacKenzie were so obvious, and had seemed so strong, that the bitter cynicism now plain in his voice was bewildering to say the least.

"Harm…" she began slightly hesitantly, "What happened down there?"

"Classified!" he almost snapped, but then seeing the instant shock on her face at his tone, he relented and added more conversationally. "Tracy, I know you have the clearance, but if ever there was a case of need to know… And I'm afraid that you…"

"Don't need to know?" she interrupted, her customary whimsical expression back in place.

"Oh…" Harm thought for a few seconds before adding in somewhat grudging tones, "Well… I suppose I could tell you… but if I did, I'd have to kill you. Are you sure it's worth it?"

Tracy's smile broadened, "I do believe that I will pass on that offer, kind sir!"

"Yeah, I thought you might." Harm grinned in reply.

Tracy's eyes clouded for a moment, "Was it really that bad?" she asked in concern.

Harm's grin faded as he regarded her levelly for a few moments before he replied, "Yeah, it was…"

Tracy looked at him keenly. Whatever had happened down south, and then its aftermath had wrought a change on Harmon Rabb. Sure, he still smiled and joked… but… the smile was never quite the same full-blown cocky grin that had melted so many female hearts, and sometimes it seemed that it didn't quite reach his eyes, and then every once in a while he seemed to slip into a sort of melancholy brooding. But….

Keeping her friendly smile in place she asked, "You are coming to the party later though, right?"

"Ummm… probably not…" he gave an apologetic-half smile. "As you said, I've got a lot on my plate outside work; we're still packing, and although Mattie's been - and is still being - a huge help to Catherine, time isn't on our side." He noted the brief moue of disappointment on his companion's face and quickly added, "But, once we're settled, I'd be glad to join you on some future occasion, so… rain check?"

Tracy sighed, "OK, rain check it is… and don't think for a moment that I won't be cashing it in!"

"Oh… I don't doubt that! Now… Commander, you still have an hour before you hand over to me, so let's look at these personnel matters again and make sure that we've haven't got the same body in more than one billet!"

xvi-xvi-xvi-xvi-xvi

Lieutenant Colonel Sarah MacKenzie signed her name at the bottom of the page with a flourish, closed the last of the files in front of her and looked diagonally across the desk at the Admiral.

The old Seal removed his reading glasses and scrubbed a hand backwards over his scalp, "Well that seems to wrap it up Colonel. Everything – except the filling of empty billets seems to be in order, and I've lit a fire under the sixes of detailers at BUPERS, and the Corps Monitors as well, so hopefully it won't be too long until HQ is back up and running at full strength, and under your guidance achieving its full potential again!"

The JAG rose from his seat and turning to face the windows he clasped his hands behind his back and cleared his throat. "Colonel, it is going to be mostly your task, in the short term, to restore both productivity and morale here in Falls Church. I didn't see it happening, but somehow, over the last eighteen months this office has gone to hell in a hand basket. I took my eye off the ball, and I failed to see what was going on under my nose, and I…. I … turned into a damn'…. politician. I've left you with an unholy mess, and for that I am most sincerely very sorry…"

"Sir, do you really have to go? Everyone… I mean…"

"Colonel, if I didn't resign, then the SecNav would have fired me. You were prepared to resign rather than continue to serve under my command; the Gunnery Sergeant is waiting for orders, Comma… uh… Rabb point blank, and in no uncertain terms, told me that he no longer trusted me and would never serve under me again, twenty-three of the support staff have requested transfers out – by the way, how many have withdrawn their applications since I announced that I was retiring?"

"Eighteen, sir, but…"

"But nothing, Colonel. Proves my point! I thought that Rabb was the disruptive element here at Falls Church, seems I was wrong. Seems like the truly disruptive element was me. My day in the navy has passed. I'm no longer a sailor, I forgot the bonds of service and comradeship, and I was prepared to sit on my hands and wait for the CIA to pull your and Gunny's sixes out of their fire – forgetting not only the code that I lived by for over thirty years, but also that as… as far as Langley is concerned, dying is the price you pay for screwing up. I should have checked Webb's plan more carefully, I should have ensured that it was properly sanctioned and had proper support. Hell, I should have been suspicious of his motives in requesting you, and not Rabb. No Colonel, this whole goat-rope is my fault, so I gotta go. It's no big thing really. I'm looking forward to taking a vacation for the first time in years, and hell, I've got enough years in so that my pension is damn nigh the same as my pay, and without the stress of running this place! No, Colonel. I'll be in on Monday, for a few minutes, to make my farewells, and then I'll go on to SecNav's office and complete the out-processing.

"And then, sir?"

Chegwidden smiled, albeit briefly, for the first time in days, "Then, I'll book the first available flight to Milan." He saw the beginning of protest in the Marine's expression and held up a hand as a sign for her not to speak. "Colonel, Mac, you'll have this chair for an indefinite period, until the Senate approves the new JAG. You'll need to concentrate all your efforts on trying to pull this office together and returning it to some semblance of efficiency. You do not need me hovering over your shoulder and sucking my teeth, and you especially do not need me in the background. Mac this is a golden opportunity for you to shine, it's a step to a command of your own and to your eagles. I can best help you by disappearing so that it can be seen that whatever you achieve is all your own work."

Mac bit her lip as she considered her CO's words, bitter although they sounded in her ears she was forced to acknowledge the truth in them. And while she could never forgive nor forget that he had abandoned her to the not-so-tender mercies of Sadik Fahd, she could also acknowledge that he was in his somewhat clumsy way attempting to make up for his lapses in judgement during that period.

"And Commander Rabb, sir? What about him?"

Chegwidden sighed, "Since I spoke to him at the airfield, he has completely cut-off all communication with me and as far as I know the rest of this office. I have been unable to speak with him, and messages left on his voice mail or answering machine have gone unanswered." The old man shrugged. "I know that I over-reacted when he returned and that I shouldn't have treated him the way I did, but I had hoped that once he'd vented that he would take a more… balanced view and at least let us start some sort of dialogue, but…" the admiral sighed again. "And what about you Colonel? Has he spoken to you at all Mac?"

Mac gave a shrug of her own, accompanied by a bitter grin, "I left seventeen messages for him to call me. He hasn't replied to any of them…"

"What happened down there, Mac? No… not the stuff that's in the AAR, I've read that; but what happened between the two of you?"

Mac fidgeted uncomfortably, "I did something… something stupid, but Harm misunderstood, and… and things went downhill. Then he crashed the plane and then we both said things we shouldn't have… and, and he's barely spoken to me since we got back. And when we did speak, he… he… seemed to be disgusted with me, and … and indifferent. I asked him for help with the Imes' cases and he turned me down… and I had to threaten him with a subpoena to even get him to testify at her court-martial…" she kept her eyes downcast and fidgeted with her ROTC ring as her voice trailed off in misery.

Chegwidden gazed at her in astonishment. Her description of Rabb's behaviour and attitude towards her just did not tally with his recollection of the fired up officer who had submitted his resignation rather than obey orders not to go to her aid. Orders which he had since acknowledged to himself should never have been given. Just what the hell and the pair of them said and done to each other while they were down there?

"H'mm… so he's ticked with both of us. Do you know if he's kept in touch with Commander Turner or Lieutenants Roberts and Simms?"

"He… uh… sent a gift to Lieutenant Simms for baby Jimmy, but other than that, and as far as I'm aware, no sir."

xvi-xvi-xvi-xvi-xvi

Rabb finished taping the stretchers of his bed together and with a grunt hoisted them onto his shoulder and carried them down the few steps from his bedroom to what had once been the living room of the loft apartment off 4th Street North-East and carefully propped them against the wall, alongside the mattress and head board. Dusting his hands off against each other and twisting his shoulders he took a last check-look around the apartment. The furniture stood against the wall to the right of the door and the remainder of his possessions had been packed in the movers' boxes and all that needed to be done now was for the moving crew to arrive and transport his goods and chattels to their new home. The new home, he thought as a smile spread across his face, that he would be sharing with Catherine, Mattie and Elizabeth. And, glancing at his watch he smiled in further satisfaction, he had promised he'd be back at Catherine's apartment by twenty-hundred hours, and now he still had twenty four minutes to make his self-imposed deadline.

xvi-xvi-xvi-xvi-xvi

The scent of garlic and basil was heavy in the air as he stepped out of the elevator just along the hallway from Catherine's apartment door, and with a resigned sigh he turned the door handle and walked in on scene replete with domesticity. Catherine sat lengthwise along her couch, a 'Mother and Baby Today' magazine open on her lap while she verbally directed Mattie's efforts at the stove as the teenager prepared dinner for the three of them.

Catherine looked yup as he entered the room and smiled with pleasure at the sight of him as he swiftly crossed the floor towards her, dropping to one knee to place a gentle kiss on her lips, which coincided with an "Ewww!" from the kitchen area as Mattie ostentatiously averted her eyes.

Harm chuckled as he rose to his feet, and hung the garment bag containing his uniform on the hook on the door as he crossed to the kitchen area, where he enveloped Mattie in a hug and dropped a kiss on the crown of her head.

"Is that any way to greet the man of the house?" he demanded in teasing tones.

"Yep, it sure is!" the now furiously blushing teenager stated firmly as she tried to wriggle out of his grasp, "especially when the first thing he does is to make a PDA with the woman of the house!"

"H'mm… let's see… first you object to us showing affection in public… and now we're not allowed to do so in private?" he asked gravely, but with an imp of mischief dancing in his eyes.

Mattie regarded him seriously for a moment or two until she saw the humour lurking in his eyes, "Damn straight!" she replied, "Hey, impressionable teenager here – you could end up scarring me for life!"

"Now, that is a problem," he replied, shooting a wink in Catherine's direction, where she sat, hugely enjoying the by-play between Harm and Mattie. "I guess we'll have to find a solution…." He cocked an eyebrow in Catherine's direction, "Any ideas, sweetheart?"

"Well, we could stop being affectionate, I suppose…" she made a doubtful contribution.

"We could…" he agreed in equally doubtful accents, as he leaned back against the counter while he watched Mattie stir the pungent sauce she was making, "Or we could always make it a rule that as soon as we're both at home, that Mattie goes to her room and stays there… just so she won't suffer any psychological trauma!"

Mattie let the wooden spoon rest in the sauce for a few moments as she cast a withering glance at her tormentors. "Hey, when you tag-team, you're supposed to at least touch each other!" she protested.

"Oh, we're not tag-teaming you, Mattie," Catherine chuckled, "We're ganging up on you!"

"Besides, I thought you didn't like the idea of us touching each other?" Harm asked, "Isn't that what this debate is all about?"

"No! Uh… Yes!" a now furiously blushing Mattie blurted out. "Oh! This is so unfair!" but she was caught between righteous indignation and giggles, "I keep forgetting that you're both sneaky, unprincipled lawyers!"

"True, we are," Harm confessed as he took her in another brief hug, "But we do love you, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," Mattie mumbled into his chest, "You're not so bad either… both of you! But I'll tell you what, though," she said pushing back against his arms so that she could look up at him and pulled a face indicating disgust, "You really need to wash up before dinner!"

"Yeah, you're right," Harm agreed, "Have I got time for a shower?"

"Well the sauce is not far off ready, and the pasta and rolls will only take about ten minutes…"

"In that case, Miss Grace, I'm on it!"

By the time Harm had showered and changed dinner was almost ready and the table had been set. Pausing only to give Catherine a helping hand up from her supine position on the couch, and handing her to her place at the table, Harm dived into the fridge reappearing with three bottles of water, "That sauce smells pretty powerful Mattie, so we might want to drink water with the meal, and we can have something else, maybe iced tea, afterwards…"

Mattie, whose first attempt at a pasta sauce this was, nodded her head in agreement. She had faithfully followed the recipe she had printed off from the internet, but as the aroma of garlic and other herbs had permeated the small apartment she had felt the beginnings of doubt nagging at her. A doubt that her first taste of the sauce did little to allay, as her nose started running and her eyes teared.

"Oh crap! I really screwed it up didn't I?" she whined, her face crimsoning with chagrin.

"Well it is a bit heavy on the garlic," Harm admitted, "but it can be fixed! And within a couple of minutes!"

Leaving the table, he spooned about quarter of the sauce into a bowl and then raided Catherine's store cupboard for a can of tomatoes. Quickly opening the can he added the contents to the sauce and turning to the microwave he gave the bowl a couple of minutes at full power, so that within three minutes he returned to table with a bowl of fresh sauce. "The thing is with cooking Mattie," he explained gently, "Is not how good everything is when all goes well, but whether or not you can rescue a dish when it all gores pear-shaped! Now try this…"

Both of his girls, as he was getting into the habit of referring to them, agreed that the rescued sauce, while not perfect was perfectly edible. Mattie however remained gloomy.

"I don't understand it," she complained, "I followed that recipe just as it was printed, and I so wanted this meal to be perfect!"

"OK, well… it's Friday, so we have the weekend to try and figure out what went…"

"Wrong?" Mattie challenged.

"Well… not wrong… but maybe just a little off-centre," Catherine poured oil on the stormy waters. "And anyway, we really need to talk about something else…"

"Such as?" Mattie demanded.

"Well, we received am e-mail today, from your Guardian Ad Litem," Catherine continued calmly, "She wants to…"

"What's a Guardian Ad thing…?" Mattie asked curiously.

"Ad Litem," Catherine repeated, "it means 'at law'. A Guardian is appointed by the court to make sure that a child's best interests, and in this case that's your best interests…"

"I am not a child!" Mattie declared mutinously.

"Mattie, Catherine and I know that you're a smart, independent minded young woman, but according to the law, you are still a child – even if you are spending too much on coffee!"

"How… how did you know…? No, no I'm not!" a blushing Mattie sputtered in denial.

"Ha! You are so busted!" Harm grinned at her, "I didn't know you were buying coffee until you just confessed it! But, Mats, it's OK. If you're used to drinking coffee, then it's dumb of us," he included Catherine by a gesture, "to try and turn back the clock."

"Damn shyster tricks!" Mattie muttered half under her breath, while the glare she shot at Harm made him thankful that 'if looks could kill' was only a phrase.

Catherine listened to the byplay with increasing impatience, "Can we discuss coffee drinking another time, please?" she asked somewhat acerbically, "This is important, people!"

Harm dropped a slow wink, which was not lost on Catherine, at Mattie, who demurely folded her hands in her lap and turned towards Catherine with an air of interested innocence,

"There, you see, sweetheart," Harm said to Catherine in a soothing tone, "We are now suitably abashed, and all attention!"

"Clowns! The pair of you!" Catherine snorted half-way between annoyance and amusement. "Anyway this Guardian Ad Litem, a Ms Le Moyne, will be coming to pay us a visit on Tuesday evening, for an initial interview, and to make a first assessment on our suitability as legal co-guardians for Mattie. So that means, Mister," she looked pointedly at Harm, that you finish work on time and damned well make sure you're back here in plenty of time!"

"Yes, ma'am!" he replied smartly, "Finish on time and straight back home it is!"

Catherine grinned, "Very well, make it so!"

"You've been watching Master and Commander!" Mattie complained.

"No, I haven't, Catherine denied, "but I have been reading the books the film was – very loosely – based on. All twenty of them!"!

"Twenty books? All on Master and Commander?" Mattie was unsure whether or not to be impressed or appalled. "Are they here?"

"They're already packed, Mattie," Harm told her, indicating the stack of movers' boxes against the end wall of the living room, "but I'm sure Catherine will let you read them once we get settled in Woodford Road!"

"Oh… I dunno… I'm not that interested in the movie, so maybe the books won't interest me that much…"

"Well, you enjoyed Anna Karenina, didn't you? And I'm sure I saw you with your nose in a Jane Austen novel the other day," Catherine remarked.

"Well, yeah, but they're the lit equivalent of a chick flick, while this Master and Commander, it's more of an action adventure thing…"

Harm stood and began gathering the empty plates, why don't you ladies take the lit crit session back to the couch while I do the dishes, and then I'll join you for coffee and ice cream!"

It didn't take long for Harm to police the kitchen and dining areas, refusing Mattie's help, as he said "Those who cook, don't for the clean up!" and he joined his girls on the couch, where he discovered that Catherine had Master and Commander on the DVD player, and was pointing out to Mattie those scenes where the actors were using authentic period British Navy expressions and phrases.

Harm's interest was piqued and he paid close attention to what Catherine was explaining to Mattie.

"How come you know all this stuff?" he asked interestedly as Mattie manipulated the remote control to eject the disc once the film had ended.

"Well, the guy who wrote the books, was a great fan of Jane Austen, and also served in the British Navy during World War Two, so he knows his naval traditions, and he just applied Jane Austen's style of dialogue to hs own books when he sat down and started to write them!" Catherine replied

"Well, yeah, but how do you know all this?"

Catherine despite Mattie's "Ugh!" of protest leaned in and kissed Harm. "Because I read the forewords!" she told him triumphantly.

Later, after Mattie had gone to bed and Catherine was waiting for Harm to finish his evening ablutions and join her in her bed, he remarked, "If it had been Bud at the table with us, he wouldn't have made the connection with Master and Commander!"

"No?" Catherine was curious.

"No, he would have identified 'make it so' with Jean Luc Picard."

"No, you've lost me!" Catherine complained.

"Jean Luc Picard," Harm told her as he slid beneath the comforter, is the Captain of the Star Ship Enterprise!"

"Oh… Star Wars." Catherine replied intelligently, as she wriggled closer to Harm to lay her head on his chest.

"No, not Star Wars," Harm corrected her with a smile, "Star Trek! Bud is just about the most rabid Trekkie you'll ever meet in a naval officer's uniform!" he finished somewhat wistfully.

"You miss them, don't you?" Catherine inquired gently.

"Yeah, I guess I do…"

"So… give them a call, Harm. Don't cut yourself off from your friends …"

"I didn't. He replied flatly, "They cut themselves off from me. Firstly when I was in the brig, and then a second time when I got back from Paraguay. In all those months Catherine, I've had just one call from Sturgis and one call from Bud. OK, I had seventeen calls from Mac, but that was because she needed my help with those Imes' cases, or maybe she thought I could help her keep track of Webb's whereabouts!"

Catherine caught the bitterness in his voice, but it was mingled with regret and decided that she would push no further, well, not tonight anyway. Raising herself on her elbow, she reached up and kissed him gently on the lips, and then settling back down so her ear was just above his heart, she murmured, "Goodnight, Harm", as he reached across and switched off the bedside lamp.

Catherine lay sill listening to the slow steady rhythm of his heartbeat as it lulled her to sleep, while Harm lay awake in the darkness and considered the wisdom in her words. He did miss his friends, but re-establishing contact with them also meant re-establishing contact with Mac. And he wasn't entirely sure that he could do that.

xvi-xvi-xvi-xvi-xvi

The following morning Harm was up and out of bed by six-thirty and heading for the footpath along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, returning to Catherine's – now their apartment – just short of an hour and a half later having run an estimated fifteen miles. He was sweating and pleasantly tired although somewhat contradictorily invigorated. The run had allowed him to empty his mind of the various questions raised the previous evening, and he quickly showered, dressed and joined Catherine and Mattie at breakfast, where he was able to present a cheerful front and entered fully into discussion of how the weekend should be spent.

Continuing the process of packing was at the top of the agenda, but Harm insisted that they should cease that activity in time for them to change into respectable clothes, and get across to Pimmett Hills to make a family visit to Esther Gale.

"That's all very well, Harm," Catherine interjected, "but Mattie and myself need to get some serious shopping done before it gets too uncomfortable for me. And the weekends are the only time we can do it. I'm too tired by the time I finish work, pay a flying visit to mom and get home, to be dragging us around the shops!"

"Does it need an urgent trip?" Harm asked with furrowed brow.

"Well, yes. Mattie needs a court-day outfit and some other stuff…"

"I could take her in a couple of days, once this place is packed up…" Harm suggested.

Mattie and Catherine exchanged thunderstruck glances. Mattie was appalled and absolutely certain that she would die of embarrassment if Harm accompanied her when she needed bras and panties, but the mental image of an equally embarrassed and probably tongue-tied Harm was just too funny. One glance at Catherine was enough to show the young girl that their thought processes were running in parallel, and both women burst into laughter.

"What's so funny, now?" An aggrieved Harm demanded. He had made the offer in unsuspecting good faith, and it was now evident that that somehow, somewhere along the line that he made a gigantic gaffe, and his self-sacrificing offer – he'd hated the thought of clothes shopping with and for Mattie – was being thrown back in his face.

"That's very sweet of you, Harm," Catherine said as she reached across the table to take his hand in hers, "But I don't think you have the necessary expertise in this field! So, if you don't mind, you can carry on with the packing, while Mattie and I make a dash to the Malls. We'll probably be gone most of the day, but we'll be back by three, so that'll give us plenty of time to get up to the Kresge, OK?"

Harm glowered, for a moment or two, "OK, then," he grudgingly allowed, "But I still don't see what was so funny!"

"I'll explain it to you later, dear," Catherine said teasingly, "Mais, pas devant l'enfant!"

"Huh?" Harm replied eloquently.

xvi-xvi-xvi-xvi-xvi

True to her word a tired Catherine returned an excited Mattie home just before three o'clock in the afternoon, to find that Harm had virtually stripped the living room and Mattie's room of all extraneous items which were now packed in securely taped boxes. More than that, as the hour drew near he had been keeping an eye on the street, so that when he saw Catherine's car slide into its allotted parking space he had turned on the burner under the kettle so that as the door opened, he was able to call out cheerfully, "Sit down, you two, The tea's fresh brewed!"

Catherine eased herself into her nest of pillows on the couch while Mattie took up her favourite cross-legged position on the floor. Both were cradling mugs of lemon-grass tea, while Harm, a dish-towel over his shoulder and a flask of rosemary and lavender oil in his hand sat on the couch, and removing Catherine's shoes spread the dish-towel over his lap and poured a drop of oil onto his hands, which he briskly rubbed together for a few minutes in order to warm the oil.

"Oh, Harm, this is just so good!" Catherine sighed as his fingers started to work their magic on her tired and aching feet, her half-forgotten mug of tea threatening to slip from her now loosened grasp, only to be rescued by Mattie and placed out of the way on the coffee table.

"Ooh… I'll give you exactly thirty years to stop it," she breathed, her head lolling back and her eyes closing in ecstasy as the tiredness fled under Harm's skilled ministrations.

"So… should I resign from the navy again, and open that massage parlour, after all?"

"If I ever see your hands on another woman's feet, I swear to God I'll kill you myself!" Catherine mock-threatened him.

"Hey, you can't say that in front of me!" Mattie objected, "You're making me into a material witness!"

"Ah, but we've got this whole female solidarity thing going for us now Mattie!"

"Female solidarity thing?" Harm queried in some trepidation. "Am I going to regret this?"

Two pairs of feminine eyes locked on to each other and as if on an unspoken signal the two women in Harm's life chorused, "Oh, yeah!"


	17. Chapter 17

**17**

Harm hung his freshly pressed uniform on the hook on the door and unplugged the iron, leaving it on the ironing board to cool down before stowing it away, and moving to the couch he took Catherine's hands in his own, and gently tugged her upright to make room for him to sink down beside her, raising his arm to let her head rest against the hollow of his shoulder, while his hand idly traced random patterns down the outside of her arm.

Mattie looked up from where she was reading a glossy magazine, grinned and demanded in mock suspicion, "You two aren't going to start any inappropriate behaviour are you?"

Harm cast his eyes around the apartment, the walls either side of the door were lined with packed and taped movers' boxes, while the rest of the room, stripped of pictures and ornaments looked cold and barren. It had taken the three of them two fifteen hour days to reduce what had been a comfortable home to a shell, and the effort had not been without its cost, both physical and emotional.

"No… no inappropriate behaviour Mattie," he sighed, "I for one am too tired for anything like that, and," he looked down into Catherine's face, whose red-rimmed eyes and tear-stained cheeks bore mute witness to her emotional exhaustion, "I'm pretty sure that all Catherine wants is a cuddle?"

Catherine nodded her head in agreement, and then after a few seconds she looked up at Harm and with a weak smile she added, "And a cup of tea?"

Harm groaned, "You're killing me!" he complained, half in earnest as he unwound his arm from around Catherine's shoulder, but before he could stand, Mattie had laid down her magazine, and bounced to her feet.

"I'll get it!" she said brightly, "What sort? Lemon grass, raspberry and rose-hip, English breakfast?"

"Oh… raspberry, please," Catherine decided.

"Suits me!" Harm called as the teenager ran water into the kettle, and he settled back to snuggle with Catherine. Dropping a gentle kiss on her forehead he asked, "Are you OK now?"

Catherine nodded, "Yes, thanks." She paused for a few seconds and then mustering up a self-deprecating chuckle, she said, "I was just being dumb, wasn't I? But when you packed the pictures away, it just sort of hit me. This apartment had been home for nearly eleven years, ever since I started work at Langley, and it felt good to be here, like pulling on a pair of battered old gym shoes that are really comfortable – and now I'm not going to be here anymore."

"Are you having second thoughts about moving?" Harm asked her, unable to keep a touch of anxiety out of his voice.

"No… well, not really… Yeah, I mean I'm moving out of my comfort zone, and that's a little scary," she confided to him, looking up once more into his eyes, "But I'm also excited about it… well, maybe not the move, but I am excited about starting a new life with you, and Mattie, and Elizabeth. It's just that all of a sudden, I was so sad, like by looking forward to a new stage in my life, I was somehow being disloyal to…" she gestured, indicating the space around them, "all this. Like I said, dumb, huh?"

"No… not dumb," Harm reassured her, "Look, you're going through two of the most stressful experiences a woman can go through, and you're handling both at the same time! You're allowed – hell, you're supposed to get a little upset! If you weren't upset, I'd be really worried about you." He dropped another kiss on the crown of her head, closing his eyes and breathing in the wildflower scent of her shampoo. This is my fault, he told himself severely. We should have acted quicker and got the hell out of here before things got to this stage… or I should have put my foot down, and held off on the Mattie thing until we'd moved and the baby was born.

"Look, I've made our bed – pretty badly, too – and now we've all got to lie in it, and I'm sorry for that, but I will make it up to you, I promise!"

Catherine squirmed around until she was practically facing him, "Don't you dare!" she scolded him. "Don't you dare start thinking this is all your fault!"

"But it is…" he started to protest.

"How?" she asked him bluntly.

"Well… If I'd been a bit quicker off the mark about finding us a proper house… or put it off until after the baby was born then you wouldn't have all this stress at the same time."

Catherine looked at him in amazement, what the hell was he thinking?

But before she could frame a question or even a coherent response to his last bit of nonsense, Mattie returned from the kitchen carrying a tray on which rested three mugs of steaming raspberry tea. Wriggling back upright, Catherine took the offered mug with a smile of thanks, as Mattie placed a second mug on the coffee table, convenient to Harm's left hand, before she resumed her seat in the armchair, her feet tucked up underneath her.

"OK, what were you two fighting about?"

Catherine and Harm exchanged a look of astonishment before their heads swivelled back towards the teenager, "We weren't fighting!" they chorused, and then after another shared look of surprise, they both grinned, Catherine breaking into a little giggle.

"No?" Mattie's reply was packed with more cynicism than a single word should be capable of bearing, and the expression on her face was clear evidence of her disbelief in their denial.

"No… we weren't fighting." Harm repeated in a voice that stated quite clearly that as far as he was concerned the subject was closed.

"We were just having a bit of discussion about the move, and about how dumb I was reacting the way I did earlier," Catherine explained, ignoring the glare she was receiving from Harm.

"Uh-huh. So it's just the stress of moving right?" Mattie asked.

"Well, that, and the baby, and the timing of everything. Harm was just saying that it was all his fault, for not being quicker or smarter, and I was just about to shoot him down when you interrupted us."

"Yeah, I'm good at that, aren't I?" Mattie challenged them.

Harm frowned at her, "What do you mean, Mats?"

The teenager shrugged. "I mean I'm not helping with Catherine's stress levels." She sighed, "I should never have agreed to come up to DC with you, I should have kept my mouth shut and stayed in…"

"That's nonsense!" Catherine exploded as Harm nodded his head in vigorous agreement with her. "Look around Mattie, you have been a huge help over the last couple of weeks, there is no way that Harm and I could have gotten half of this packed without your help through the day!"

Mattie gave her a pitying look, and sat up straight in her chair, pulling her feet out from under her, "Catherine, I'm fifteen, not stupid. Yeah, OK, I helped with the packing – big deal! But it doesn't make up for the stress I cause by just being here, so that you're worrying about me while you're at work, or when you should be resting, and then" she continued, ignoring both Harm and Catherine's attempts to rebut her position, "There's all the worry I'm causing both of you about this guardian thing. You'd both be better off without me. I should just pack up and go back to Charlottesville!" she ended bitterly.

Harm blinked at the degree of rancour in the young girl's voice, and took a moment or two to marshal his arguments, "That's not really the case, Mattie. Catherine was pregnant for months before she met you, and even if she hadn't met you, she and I would still have to be coping with the changes the baby is bringing to our lives. So that is one thing you have absolutely nothing to do with! Secondly, and again before Catherine met you, we'd already decided to move out of our apartments and into a house. Do you remember the first time you and Catherine met? It was the picnic we had at Charlottesville? Well, I told you then that it was partly a reward for Catherine for going house-hunting with me the previous day. So once again, you have nothing to do with any of the stress inflicted by our moving house."

"No, you don't!" Catherine agreed emphatically, "And as far as stressing me because you're here? Nothing could be further from the truth. You don't know just how much peace of mind I get when I leave for work in the morning, knowing that by the time I get back in the evening I'll be too tired to do anything constructive, but that you will have packed a couple of boxes during the day, and that as soon as I walk through the door, you'll be putting the kettle on to boil. Honestly, Mattie, I don't know what I would have done these last three weeks if you wouldn't have been here for me!"

Mattie pinkened with pleasure at the praise Catherine lavished on her, but still clung to her position, "Yeah, OK, well, maybe. But there's still the stress of the court date coming up, and strangers poking into your life, and that's all down to me!"

"Well, for a start, it's not that big a deal as far as the stress load goes," Catherine demurred, "And anyway, it's Harm that's handling all that side…"

"Yeah… maybe…" Mattie was still unconvinced, "But he's still getting straight with a new job, and that's gotta have a whole shit… uh… boat-load of stress along with it. And if he's getting stressed, then it's gotta be piling on to you too!"

Harm disentangled himself from the couch, and crossed to perch on the arm of Mattie's chair, dropping a comforting hand on to her shoulder and pulling her in so her head rested against the side of his chest.

"Listen, squirt," he smiled down at her, "Yeah, there's stress with this new job, but it's a whole lot less stress than being an out-of-work crop duster, waiting for CPS and Social Services to turn down our application before we even get to the family court, 'cos I don't have a job. And what's more," he went on as she gave indications of wanting to interrupt him, "The new job has benefits that directly affect all three of us. I have access to Navy Legal Services, free of charge, and they're handling all the legal stuff about the house purchase, and the letting agreement for my apartment, as well as making sure that all the t's are crossed and all the i's are dotted on the guardianship application. So the stress fallout from that is negligible. So as Catherine has just said, having you here to look after her, and to help her pack, far outweighs any additional stress – and I'm not saying that there is any – that you being with us might cause. Besides, even if you did have a negative effect on us, it wouldn't matter, because we love you, anyway."

"Damn straight!" Catherine affirmed with a smile.

Mattie looped her arm around Harm's waist, and buried her face against his chest. "An' I love you two, too," she mumbled, "But are you really sure you're OK with me being here?" she asked in a choked voice.

Harm leaned back so that he could look down at Mattie's brimming eyes, "We wouldn't have it any other way!" he said emphatically.

"Oh…" Mattie was speechless for a few seconds, and then fumbled in her jeans pocket, and then standing she said, "Uh… I just got to go… for a few minutes, OK?"

"Yeah, go ahead, kiddo," Catherine said as Harm too stood and turned back towards the couch.

"She's funny," Catherine said once Mattie had closed the bathroom door behind her, "She's so mature one minute, and then… when things get a bit heavy, she runs for cover."

Harm re-took his seat next to Catherine and taking a gulp of his now barely warm tea, he grimaced, and sank back against the squabs, once more raising his arm so that Catherine, could wriggle back into her accustomed position with her head in the hollow of his shoulder, "Yeah… it's just that she's had to grow up so damned fast, but she hasn't learned yet that it's OK for adults to cry, sometimes. So, when she cries, she hates it for anybody to see her."

Catherine nodded, "You know, that's going to be one of our biggest challenges with Mattie."

"What is?" Harm asked.

"Getting her to accept that she's a teenager, and not a smaller scale version of an adult."

"You're pretty damn' clever for a sneaky old spook!" Harm grinned; nudging Catherine's face up towards him as he bent his own head down and kissed her gently.

Catherine returned the kiss, her tongue passing swiftly over his bottom lip, before she leaned backward, and with her eyes darkening, she growled, "And just watch who you're calling old, buster!"

"Oh, I am, I am," he smiled into her eyes, causing the breath to catch in her throat, "And I really, really like what I'm watching!"

Catherine snaked up an arm and with her hand at the back of his head, pulled him down to her level, where she kissed him, at first gently, and then with a growing urgency as mouths opened to each other, and without Harm being aware of it, his hand slid up from Catherine's waist to gently cup her breast. They were only recalled to the here and now, by a gasp from the direction of the bathroom door.

Guiltily breaking apart, they turned to see a half-shocked, half-amused Mattie standing in the doorway, her hand covering her mouth. "I think… I think I'll just go to bed now," she mumbled, "Goodnight, you two!" The teenager then almost fled the living room, leaving Harm and Catherine open-mouthed in shock on the couch.

Harm was the first to recover his wits, "Damn! Busted! Umm… do you think that might be construed as… uh… inappropriate behaviour?" he asked.

"Whose… ours or Mattie's?" a still-not-quite-with-the-programme Catherine demanded.

"Oh, ours, definitely," Harm replied.

"Oh, no. No, I figure that it was entirely appropriate behaviour for two consenting adults," Catherine replied with a mischievous smile, having now recovered her customary poise.

"Well, when you put it like that counsellor…" Harm smiled in agreement, pausing to land another gentle kiss on Catherine's lips.

"But," she said with a teasing smile, "the location might have been a tad on the inappropriate side!"

"So…" his voice deepened to a huskiness that sent a shiver down Catherine's spine, "Why don't I clear up in here, while you get ready, and then maybe we could continue this discussion somewhere more appropriate?"

Reduced almost to a speechless state, Catherine could only nod and wait for Harm to help her to her feet. "Don't be long, sailor," she pleaded.

Harm took a few minutes to tidy up the cups and tea pot, keeping an ear open for the sounds from the bathroom to cease, and smiled as Catherine waddled through from bathroom to bedroom, wrapped, he noted in his bathrobe – her own no longer capable of wrapping itself around her gravid belly.

It was some fifteen minutes later that shampooed, showered and with freshened breath he slid under the coverlet, his left arm sliding under Catherine, to draw her closer to him. She propped herself on an elbow, and stroking his still just damp hair away from his forehead, she dropped her eyes and said, "Look, Harm, if Mattie hadn't interrupted us when she did, then maybe, it would have been OK, but now… do you mind if we don't… It's not that I don't want to, Oh God, you'll never guess just how much I want to, but this's kind of cold blooded, premeditated… if it had happened on the couch, it would have been spontaneous…" she giggled, "And I thought you had problems with spontaneous… and I'm babbling now aren't I? So I'll just shut…"

Harm raised himself on his elbow and silenced her with a gentle, brief kiss, before he lay back on his pillow, and gently pressed her down so that her head was once more resting in the crook of his shoulder. "Catherine, if you want me as badly as I want you, then it will happen, but it will only happen when we're both good and ready. And if you're not ready tonight, then neither am I. So, yes, I'm good with waiting until it's right for both of us."

Catherine looked at him wonderingly, and stretching he neck, she managed to land a butterfly kiss on his jaw, "You're a good man, Harmon Rabb," she told him softly.

Harm blushed slightly at that praise, and stretched an arm out to switch off the lamp on the night stand. "Hush, sweetheart, go to sleep," he told her.

"M'mm… G'night, Harm."

"Goodnight, sweetheart"

xvii-xvii-xvii-xvii-xvii

"Coates!" Admiral Chegwidden's voice floated out of his office and carried easily to the ears of his Yeoman.

"Sir!"

"Pass the word for Commander Turner, Commander Manetti and Lieutenants Roberts and Sims, please!"

"Aye, aye, sir!"

Within two minutes, the officers whose presence he had demanded had arrived in the JAG's Office and the first arrivals had been told to stand at ease until the last of them, Lieutenant Sims scurried in. Coates took station a pace to the right rear of her principal, as he spoke, "Attention to Orders!"

All snapped to attention as the Admiral continued, "Lieutenant Roberts, front and centre!"

Bud Roberts stepped forward his face a picture of confusion. The Admiral spoke again, "Mister Roberts, it gives me enormous pleasure that my last official act as Judge Advocate General of the Navy is to conduct your promotion ceremony!"

Ignoring the gape mouthed officer he turned to his Yeoman, "Coates, if you will."

"Aye, aye, sir!" Jennifer Coates slipped her hand into her purse and withdrew a small, black box which she handed to the broadly grinning Lieutenant Sims, who was barely able to contain her excitement. Opening the box she saw the two bronze oak-leafs that represented her husband's advancement, and almost jumping up and down with excitement, she showed them to a still-stunned Bud.

"Lieutenant Commander Roberts, raise your right hand, and repeat after me…"

Bud numbly repeated the oath that marked his formal acceptance of his new rank, finishing with the formulaic, "so help me, God." And accepted the usual congratulatory kiss from his wife.

Sturgis Turner could hardly believe the evidence of his eyes and ears, and although he offered his congratulations to the newly promoted Lieutenant Commander, he could not keep his disapproval out of his voice, his face or his bearing. Tracy Manetti had no such misgivings and warmly congratulated Bud, and casting a smiling glance at Harriet Sims, she asked, "May I?"

Receiving a smiling, "Yes, ma'am" from the bubbly blonde, she leaned in towards Bud and placed a soft, chaste kiss on his cheek.

Chegwidden coughed, drawing the attention of all back to himself, "Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, you are dismissed!"

He waited until his officers had filed out of the office, and sat down again, facing Mac across the desk. "You saw that, I trust?" he queried.

"Turner?" Mac queried

Chegwidden nodded, "I had hoped to get that sorted out before I left," he shook his head in disapproval of Turner's reaction. "But I'm afraid that's just one more mess I've left you. Sorry Mac. In fact, I'm sorry for a lot of things."

Mac stiffened slightly, "That may be, sir," she affirmed, "but there is nothing that either of us can do about those things now, is there?"

"No, Mac, there's not," Chegwidden sighed as he pushed his chair back from the front of the desk that used to be his, and stood, gazing at the now bare walls and shelves of the office. As a courtesy, Mac had arranged for a weekend working party under Jennifer Coates' supervision to pack the outgoing JAG's personal effects and deliver them to his house in McLean, now the stripped walls and empty shelves gave even the warm-tinted oak panelling a cold, almost sterile appearance.

"Well, that's it, Sarah," he said taking a last look round.

Mac was shocked, in all the years of their service together, the Admiral had occasionally addressed her as Mac, but she couldn't remember a single instance of him ever calling her Sarah. For a moment she stood in place her mouth open but no sound issuing from it. Chegwidden smiled wryly as he picked up his cover, and turned towards the door. "Well, it seems I've achieved something while I've been here," he remarked, "I've finally managed to render you speechless!"

Mac blushed at his teasing and swallowing, recovered her voice, "Let me walk you out, sir?"

The old man smiled again, this time with real pleasure, "You don't need to do that Mac, but yes I'd like that."

The Admiral opened the office door and as he stepped through, Jennifer Coates sprang to her feet and assumed the position of attention. Chegwidden regarded her thoughtfully, "Goodbye, Jennifer, he said softly, "You have been one of the best Yeomen I've ever known, but please remember what I told you about balancing loyalty to your friends with loyalty to yourself."

"Yes, sir. I will, sir."

"Good!" he smiled at her again and strode out into the bull-pen, and as he did so, Jennifer Coates' voice rang around the room, "Admiral on deck!"

"As you were people, as you were!" he gave his customary dismissal, only to be shocked in both silence and stillness as Mac's voice sounded loud and clear, "Belay that! Ten-hut! Admiral Departing, General Salute!"

Casting a startled glance around the bull-pen Chegwidden saw that it was more than ordinarily crowded. In addition to the normal Operations staff, Judges Morris, Helfman, Blakely and Sebring as well as a coterie of the Judicial Support Staff had found their way into the bull-pen, and that it seemed that all his officers, including the Officer in Charge and the Duty Officer of the Marine Security Detachment had foregathered by the exit, and that all of the officers, including the judges had defied convention and were wearing their covers, and that their right hands had snapped to a salute. Placing in his own cover on his head, he returned the salute, and visibly straightening his back and shoulders, he strode more purposefully towards the exit. As he reached it, Mac's voice rang out again, "Ten-hut!"

Chegwidden turned to face her as his officers' hands came down from the salute, and for a few seconds Admiral and Lieutenant Colonel stood in silence their eyes locked on each other.

Then Mac spoke to her old Commanding Officer for the final time, "Fair Winds and Following Seas, sir!"

Chegwidden nodded, "Thank you, Colonel," and with a final glance around the bull-pen he turned and walked out through the door.

xvii-xvii-xvii-xvii-xvii

Secretary of the Navy Edward Sheffield looked again at the spread-sheet on his desk, and shook his head in bewilderment. Yes, he had tasked Rabb to look at JAG manning, not just at JAG HQ, but world and fleet-wide, but he hadn't expected anything on this scale, and with the other tasks he had assigned to his new legal adviser, he certainly hadn't expected such quick results. Shaking his head once more, he reached across his desk and pressed the call button for his PA.

"Yes, Mr Secretary?"

"Penny, call Commander Rabb, please, have him come and see me at his earliest convenience!"

"Yes, Mr Secretary!"

Penny Maybridge smiled as the intercom clicked, marking the end of the call, and picked up her telephone and dialled Rabb's extension. "Hello, sailor, Penny Maybridge here, the SecNav wants to see you ASAP!" she told him, automatically converting Sheffield's polite request into the command that it really was.

"I'm on my way, Penny!" Rabb was standing even as he spoke, pausing only to make sure that his desk was clear and the drawers locked. Passing through the Yeoman's office he smiled at Barker, and indicated one of the other three doors leading off the small ante-chamber, "Any sign of Commander Coleman yet, Barker?"

"No, sir!"

"H'mm… I've been summonsed to appear before God's representative at the DoN, so if the Commander should make an appearance before I return please ask her to wait until I do get back before she pulls another disappearing act!"

"Aye, aye, sir!" Barker replied, and then sighed dreamily as Rabb left her office, letting the door swing shut behind him. Barker gave herself a mental slap, it was absolutely useless to moon over any officer, even one as gorgeous as Commander Rabb, and anyway, he was far too old for her!

Harm rapped twice on the door to the SecNav's outer office and opened the door, "Good morning, Penny, is he ready for me, firing squad lined up?"

Penny Maybridge, a full-figured motherly blonde in her forties, grinned, for some reason Rabb had that effect on her, it was probably his smile, it was so infectious, "No, I don't think you're going to be shot this morning; he didn't sound as if he was mad at anyone! Hold on a moment…" she pressed the call button on the intercom, "Mister Secretary, Commander Rabb is here as you requested…"

The SecNav's voice, already made gravelly by his long years of consumption of bourbon and cigars was rendered even more alien by the vagaries of electronics, "Thank you Penny, send him on in!"

Harm nodded to acknowledge he'd heard the message, and, his well-polished shoes soundless on the plush carpeting, he crossed the few feet to the SecNav's door and tapped twice on the doorjamb.

"Enter!"

Harm pushed the door open and turning, closed it behind him, "You wanted to see me, Mister Secretary?" he asked politely.

"Yes, come in properly man, and sit down!" Sheffield waved in the general direction of one of the visitors' chairs, and waited until Rabb had seated himself.

Sheffield leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers in front of his chin, as he stared at the naval officer, who calmly and unblinkingly returned his scrutiny. "The manning plot," he began. "That's some very fast work, and it looks to be remarkably thorough and certainly a lot more far-reaching than I had anticipated. Would you care to enlighten me as to your reasoning behind it?"

"With respect Mister Secretary, I believe I have covered my rationale in the notes attached to the plot," Harm pointed out.

"Maybe, maybe, but I'd still like to hear them from your lips, Commander!"

"Very well, Mister Secretary. Lindsey must be laughing his head off in Leavenworth, because despite all he said and did, he was right about one aspect of JAG, we had all become too comfortable with our billets and with those with whom we worked. As a result, the ball was being dropped and in certain cases we had become too reliant on inter-personal dynamics, rather than on the ties of duty and responsibility!"

"Are you talking about yourself and Colonel MacKenzie, Commander?"

Harm grinned wryly, by opening that particular door, he had known in advance that he was offering the SecNav exactly the opportunity he had just taken. "Yes, Mister Secretary, I do include myself and Colonel MacKenzie in that bracket. But there are other, more important factors to take into consideration."

"Go on."

"While some of us have spent years in plum billets, there are others who have received less favourable treatment. If you'll look at the column headed 'Tranche', you will see that there is a number against every officer's name. Those in Tranche One have been in sea-going billets for more than five years. There were more officers in that category than are shown on the plot Mister Secretary, because they became so disillusioned, or were under so much family pressure that they either reached their release date and opted out, or they resigned their commissions. Granted some of them may have only ever intended to fulfill their commitment to the navy, but if we only have a handful of disgruntled former officers out there, it's not got to help the navy, or JAG. The whole manning plot needs to be tightened up, Mister Secretary."

"So, you recommend that those officers in Tranche One be immediately replaced and re-assigned to shore billets?"

"Not just shore billets, Mister Secretary, but shore billets within CONUS."

"Point taken, Commander. We'll do that, but you realise it's not going to happen overnight?"

"Agreed, sir, but warning orders, and invitations to request preferred billets should be issued to those officers as soon as possible, and BUPERS detailers need to be alerted as well, Mister Secretary, we don't need them dragging their feet over this.!

"Agreed. Now, where are we going to find replacements for these sea-going officers?"

"Tranche Two, Mister Secretary. Those officers are all in shore based billets, and have been for longer than normal tours. In fairness to them, if they want to be considered for promotion at some stage in their careers, then they need sea-time!"

Sheffield ran his names down the list of officers in Tranche Two and raised his eyebrows in surprise, "I see you have Commander Turner down in Tranche Two?"

"Yes Mister Secretary, Sturgis Turner is an ex-submariner, who came late to JAG. His current billet is Falls Church, his previous billet was Pearl. Both are prestigious and comfortable billets. Despite his previous sea-going time as a submariner, Commander Turner needs to get in sea-time as a JAG. Sturgis is a good litigator, but he is very much a by the book sailor, he needs to move out of an office where people are just names in a file, and into a community where he can put faces and personalities to names."

"H'mm…" Secretary Sheffield quickly scanned down the list of names, marking with a pencil those currently billeted at Falls Church. "I see that you haven't marked any of the Judges at Falls Church as needing to be moved?"

"No Mister Secretary, I have not." Rabb paused to marshal his arguments, "The judges are under the command of Admiral Morris, and with all else I've recommended for Falls Church, I felt we need some strand of continuity. At least for the present. I recommend that the new JAG, whoever that might be, be briefed to hold discussions with Admiral Morris as to the future manning plot for military judges."

"H'mm… it seems everybody moves, except for Colonel MacKenzie and the newly-promoted Lieutenant Commander Roberts! Why not those two?"

"Continuity again, Mister Secretary, if you'll look again you'll see that I have placed Colonel MacKenzie in Tranche Four, to be PCS within a twelve-month! But for the moment she is the acting JAG and needs to be on station for the handover to the new incumbent, and then perhaps to revert to CoS status until the new JAG is perfectly at home."

"And Commander Roberts?"

"The same, Mister Secretary. Now he's been placed on unrestricted duty, he needs to prove to those who might doubt him that he can carry out those duties, ashore and afloat, but in the meantime, he is the only senior attorney at Falls Church until those moving into billets there are brought up to speed!"

"Yes, those moving into billets at Falls Church. Well, Commander Manetti reports there this morning, I believe?"

"Yes, Mister Secretary, that is so."

"I see that you have recommended a Lieutenant Commander Austin for a billet there also?"

"Yes, Mister Secretary. I know Commander Austin. She was a previous partner of mine at Falls Church, and she has formidable forensic computer skills in addition to her weapons background, and she had developed into a fine investigator, well capable of carrying out JAGMan investigations."

"There is nothing personal between you and Commander Austin?"

"No more than fond memories of a good working relationship, Mister Secretary. My personal life is convoluted enough without adding anyone else to the mix!" Rabb tried to joke, although he was furious that Sheffield would suspect that he was playing favourites with officers' careers.

Sheffield looked at him over the top of his horn-rimmed glasses, but contented himself with an "H'mm" as he continued to scam down the page until he stopped with a jerk. "I'm not happy about these two, Commander," his voice stiff with disapproval.

"Mister Secretary?"

"Lieutenant Commander Coleman and Major Burney!"

"Yes, Mister Secretary, I thought you might have some reservations about those two and my proposals for them."

"I do indeed, Commander, explain if you will."

"Yes, Mister Secretary. I have serious doubts about Commander Coleman's current ability as a trial lawyer. When she attempted to defend me last spring in the Singer case, she was, in my professional view, appallingly bad. She was so bad, that during the short time between NCIS dropping the case and my misadventures in Paraguay that I seriously considered bringing charges of dereliction of duty against her, as well as referring her to the Professional Standards Board on the grounds that she provided me with an inadequate defence. She claimed to have successfully defended nine other capital cases, and I must admit that I took advantage of the last couple of weeks to read through the transcripts of those cases. Each and every one of them should have been won by a first year law student, in fact of the nine cases, seven should never have come to trial, but the charges should have been dropped at an Article thirty-two hearing. Commander Coleman needs to be assigned to a TSO, where she can broaden her experience as a litigator. She has an impressive academic and theoretical record, Mister Secretary, and has the potential to be an excellent trial lawyer, so rather than punishing her for being detailed to take on duty for which she had never been properly prepared, I believe it would be beneficial for her if she receives the mentoring in which she stands in need, so that if she is ever faced with such a duty again, she is better prepared to stand that duty."

Sheffield remained silent for long moments, "If you are telling me the truth, Commander –" he held up his hand to stop an incipient protest "And I have no doubt you are, that is a remarkably generous attitude for you to take."

"Nothing generous about it, Mister Secretary. I confess that I would have found it difficult working with Commander Coleman, but I would have managed. But Commander Coleman has excelled here at the Pentagon, and I feel she has the potential to become a successful litigator. Posting her to a TSO where she can develop those skills, is I feel in the best interests of the Navy."

"So… you harbour no rancour towards Major McBurney, either?"

"None, Mister Secretary."

"But it was his one question to that young Petty officer, that torpedoed your case?"

"It was, Mister Secretary, I may not like what he did, but I would have asked that very same question if I had been prosecuting me!"

"So… why recommend that he be posted to JAG HQ?"

"The JAG Corps has benefitted, on the whole, from Colonel MacKenzie's presence at HQ, and I believe a continued USMC Attorney's presence will be equally beneficial."

Sheffield sat in silent thought for a minute longer. "Very well, " he said at last, "Have warning orders and letters of invitation cut for all those officers on Tranches one and Two, copied to all JAG Detailers at BUPERS with the rider that I expect to see all movement completed within the next three months. Also have orders cut for Commander Coleman to PCS to TSO North West Europe in London. Give her a month. Commander Austin and Major McBurney may also have their orders cut for Falls Church. JAG HQ is now so short staffed, that they need to get there ASAP, as you navy people are so fond of saying. You realise that with Commander Coleman gone, you are going to be busier than normal until we can find a replacement for her?"

"Yes, Mister Secretary, I do. But there is an officer in Tranche One, a Lieutenant Commander Bellingham, who I believe would be ideal as Commander Coleman's replacement."

"Do you know this Bellingham?"

"I've met her, Mister Secretary, but I don't know her that well, but her fitreps are outstanding and she's had three consecutive recommendations for a staff appointment. And she's been afloat for over four years, Mister Secretary." Harm emphasised the last sentence, leaving Sheffield in doubt as to his disapproval; but in fairness, he told himself, Sheffield was still a comparative newcomer to the job, and due to the speed with which Secretary Nelson had resigned, it was no wonder that certain aspects of naval administration had gotten into a tangle.

"Very well, Commander. Have her orders cut too!"

"Yes, Mister Secretary. There's just one more thing I'd like to mention, before we finish up, though."

"And that is?"

"Legalman Petty Officer Second Class Barker, Mister Secretary."

"Petty Officer Barker? Why what's she done?"

"Nothing, Mister Secretary, but she has represented to me that while she feels she's done a more than fair job as yeoman to your naval officers, she is in fact a Legalman and is keen to return to her career path. I'd like your authority to have orders cut, posting her to Falls Church as a Legalman."

"And I suppose you have a replacement in mind for her too?" Sheffield asked, with more than just a hint of sarcasm.

Harm grinned, completely unabashed, "Yes, Mister Secretary, I do!"

"Alright, Rabb, go ahead, and rearrange the whole DoN if you must!" Sheffield responded acerbically.

"Uh… do you really mean that, Mister Secretary?" Harm asked, injecting enthusiasm into his voice.

"God, no!" Sheffield exploded, "No, you've done quite enough damage for one day! Just go and get those wheels in motion!"

Harm stood, "Aye, aye, Mister Secretary!"

"Well, don't get too pleased…" The SecNav stopped in mid diatribe as his intercom buzzed, "Yes, Penny?"

"Mister Secretary, your ten-thirty appointment is here." Penny Maybridge's voice came clearly over the intercom.

"Thank, you Penny, I'll see him in a moment."

Sheffield released the intercom button, and passed the Manning Plot back to harm, "Go on Commander, make things happen!"

"Yes, Mister Secretary," Harm drew himself up to attention and turning, strode soundlessly across the thick carpet to the door and opening it stepped through into Penny Mayberry's office, where he stopped, shocked into stillness, as his heart seemed to turn a somersault.

The SecNav's ten-thirty appointment stared at Harm in disbelief, "Commander Rabb?" he said wrath mingling with his incredulity.

"Admiral, sir!" Harm gulped as he stared into the angry face of A J Chegwidden.


	18. Chapter 18

**18**

"Go… Good morning, sir," Harm stuttered.

AJ Stared at the younger officer, his face pale with rage. On top of Rabb's refusal of his offer of a return to JAG because he no longer trusted or respected the admiral, his presence here, in the SecNav's office appeared to be no less than a calculated insult.

"Lock it up, Mister!" he snapped.

Harm froze at attention.

Chegwidden, although lacking an inch or so of Harm's height seemed to loom over him as he hissed, "You have got some pretty fancy explaining to do Commander!"

"Sir, The Commander does not know what the Admiral means, sir!"

"I mean, Rabb, that I want you to tell me what the fu…" a memory of Penny Maybridge's presence caused a hasty revision to the sentence, "Just what the hell you are doing here in uniform!"

"The SecNav offered me an opportunity to return to active duty status, sir, and I accepted his offer!" Harm laid just a touch of truculent emphasis on his last two words.

"Just what do you mean by that, Commander?"

"Sir, if you'll recall our last conversation, you'll remember that I stated that I wished to continue to serve my country, sir. And that is what I am now in a position to do, sir!"

"You haven't answered my question, Commander! Why here?"

"Sir, the circumstances of my leaving JAG were such that I didn't feel I could return there, sir, so when the SecNav offered me a posting here, I accepted it with thanks, sir!"

"And why could you not return to JAG?"

"With respect, sir, if you'll continue to think back to our last conversation, you know the reason why. And… there are other, career-based and personal reasons for my not being able to return to JAG HQ!"

Chegwidden was conscious of a deep-rooted feeling of hurt. Rabb had been the finest litigator in the office, unorthodox at times, but brilliant nevertheless. As good an attorney as Mac was, Rabb's record outshone hers, especially when the two of them had faced off as opposing counsel. He had mentally earmarked Rabb as a future JAG, and to find him now, dancing attendance on a politician felt like a betrayal. Chegwidden mentally snorted, "Career based reasons, Rabb?" he sneered.

"Yes, sir!" Harm fought back his own rising anger, getting into a pissing match with a two-star, even if it was that two-star's last day in the navy was a major losing proposition, "I have years of experience as a litigator, but my career is somewhat one-sided – out of balance. I have no staff experience, I have no command experience. If my career is ever going to advance, then I need to get those two positions noted in my SRB! And at this time in my personal life, a more-or-less static billet in DC fits best both my professional and personal lives, sir!"

"Don't try and bullshit me, Commander – it's been tried by experts!"

"Very well, sir. If you want the gloves off, then off they'll come! I'll remind you sir, that I no longer trust or respect you, and at the time Secretary Sheffield offered to return me to active status, I was unaware that you were about to submit your request for retirement, sir, so to me it seemed that a return to JAG would have meant a return to serving under your command. An option, which if I may remind you, I had already told you was not one that I prepared to consider under any circumstances! Furthermore, even if I had been prepared to override my concerns over your leadership on those grounds, I remember only too well the months of scut-work you dumped on me on the occasion of my previous return to JAG and had no wish to spend the next few months of my life buried in FOI requests and resolving junior ranks leasing dispute, sir!"

"You arrogant son of a bitch!" Chegwidden erupted, "Where the hell do you think you get off talking to me like that…"

"With respect, sir," Harm interrupted him, almost visibly trembling from the adrenalin rush, "You asked for it!"

"That is it! Commander, you can expect to face charges on…"

Whatever Chegwidden had been about to say was interrupted as Secretary Sheffield opened his office door and stepped into his PA's office, where Penny Maybridge had been an unwilling and uncomfortable spectator to the clash between Admiral and Commander.

Sheffield had heard enough of the conversation, particularly as its volume increased, and while he was prepared to let the two angry naval officers vent their frustrations on each other, he had no wish for the confrontation to end in a physical brawl or in any disciplinary charges being levelled, and judged that now was the time to remind his pair of intransigent officers of their whereabouts.

"Good morning A J," Sheffield said urbanely, "Thanks for calling in on what I know must be a difficult and busy day for you. Please, come on in. Hopefully I won't detain you long." He nodded in Harm's direction, "Commander, while I understand that passing the time of day with old shipmates can be highly congenial, I do believe that you have something pressing that needs your attention?" he sent a pointed look at the Manning Plot file folder that Harm still held in his left hand.

Summarily dismissed, Harm had no option other than to respond with a crisp "Aye, aye, sir!" and after a pause, added in acknowledgement of Chegwidden's presence, "By your leave sir!" before crisply about facing.

"Come on in, AJ," Sheffield repeated, indicating that his visitor should take one of the leather armchairs by the coffee table at the side of the office, rather than cross to the solid desk. Sheffield took one of the other chairs and leaning back he crossed his legs and smiled at the Admiral.

"You seemed a little… concerned out there AJ?"

"No, I was not concerned… I was, am still goddam angry! I gave that insubordinate son of a bitch the opportunity to return to active duty in his previous post and he turned me down flat! And now I find he's gone behind my back!"

Sheffield contemplated his aggrieved guest for a few moments before he spoke, "AJ, Rabb did not go behind your back," he said quietly but firmly. "If anyone is guilty of that, then it's me. I sent Commander Manetti to find him and it was I that made the approach to him. An approach I admit of which he was extremely wary."

"But why?"

"AJ, Rabb is a damn fine officer, and speaking frankly, from where I'm sitting, you totally mishandled him over the past year."

"But…"

"No… listen to me for a few minutes, please. I am still your boss – well at least up until midnight, OK?"

Chegwidden grunted and settled back in his chair.

"Before I offered Rabb a return to active duty status, I went over his personnel file with a fine-tooth comb. Up until last year, his fitreps at JAG, all written by you, showed him to be an outstanding attorney and an outstanding naval officer. And then, all of sudden he stopped being the poster boy for JAG. What happened AJ? And when did it happen?"

Chegwidden thought back for a minute or so, while Sheffield remained silence. At last Chegwidden said reluctantly, "Moritz… Petty Officer Moritz."

"What was that all about, AJ?"

"Rabb investigated Moritz in a case of negligent homicide and recommended charges. Moritz then asked for Rabb to defend him. Rabb wanted to refuse the case, saying that he couldn't be objective, but I ordered him to take it." Chegwidden paused, and ran his hand over his scalp before continuing, "His performance as defence counsel was… less than stellar, and he lost his client's confidence. I had no choice but to sever him from the case."

"On what grounds, AJ?"

"His inability to overcome his bias."

"His lack of objectivity?"

"Yes."

"A lack which he had previously expressed to you his concern?"

"Yes."

"Tell me AJ, what would you consider to be Rabb's greatest virtues?"

AJ, temporarily taken aback at the seeming non-sequitur, paused for a second before responding, "His drive and determination to get to the truth, his commitment to justice, his stubbornness in sticking to his ideals…"

"In other words, loyalty?"

AJ had a sinking feeling that he knew where Sheffield was headed and conviction that grew as the Secretary continued, "So… can you see perhaps where, in Rabb's eyes, in the case in question, you set him up to fail?"

Chegwidden nodded, "In hindsight Mister Secretary, yes, I can see perhaps that Rabb might have felt that way…"

"You don't also consider that Rabb might have seen it as a betrayal? A man, you, in whom he had placed his loyalty and respect, forced him to act against his convictions, and then rather than supporting him, cut the ground out from underneath him?"

"No, Mister Secretary, I don't see it in that light…"

"Well, perhaps you should, AJ. Tell me, what do you think the effect of severing Rabb had on his co-workers' attitude to him? I hardly think that such an act could have been kept secret. Did they commiserate with him, did they distance themselves from him or did they rub his nose in it?"

"There was some friction …" Chegwidden grudgingly admitted.

Sheffield nodded, "And this wasn't all that long before the Lindsey report and then the Singer case, was it?"

"No, no it wasn't."

"Well we won't re-hash those particular messes, but would it surprise you that Rabb emerged from them feeling abandoned and betrayed by those he considered his friends?"

"That was not my idea, Mister Secretary. Those instructions to sever JAG HQ from the case came from this office!"

"True, AJ, true. But if Secretary Nelson had issued those instructions, how would you have reacted? Would you have blindly followed them, or would you have loyally supported one of your best officers, and told Nelson to go to hell? No, don't answer that. So you were pissed off with Rabb, but tell me AJ, what had Colonel MacKenzie done that was so bad that you were willing to abandon her, and then prevent Rabb from going to her aid?"

"It wasn't like that, Mister Secretary… I had strict instructions from State, that it was a CIA matter, and that they would resolve it…"

Sheffield looked at him in disbelief, "AJ, you cannot sit there and tell me you believed that?"

"I didn't like it, Mister Secretary, but my hands were tied!"

"So…" Sheffield breathed out, "From Rabb's point of view you had already been disloyal to him –twice – and now you were being disloyal to his long-time partner. I am not going to go into your treatment of Rabb on his successful return from Paraguay, having broken up a terrorist cell, destroyed an arsenal and rescued three operatives, two of whom would almost certainly have died if not for his intervention, but can you see how all these incidents accrue to a point where he feels he can no longer serve under your command?"

"Well… yes, but for him to accept a return to active status before I was even out of the door…"

"Better this way AJ. If I had waited until you retired before I reactivated Rabb, it would have been widely assumed that your dismissal was the price he demanded for reactivation. Rabb is good, but he's not worth that. But scuttlebutt would have made the most of it. As it is, the navy register will show that he returned to active duty before you submitted your application for retirement."

Chegwidden's "H'mph!" seemed to indicate that while he'd heard Sheffield's arguments, he was not entirely convinced by them, but he settled back in his seat.

Sheffield stood, waving Chegwidden back as he made suit to follow, "No, stay where you are, AJ!" Sheffield crossed to a cabinet and returned bearing two shot glasses and a bottle of Wild Turkey. "The sun's bound to be over the yardarm somewhere AJ, so we'll have one last one, just to wish you Godspeed!" He poured two glasses and passing one to his guest, he raised his glass in silent salute,

After a moment's hesitation, AJ raised his own glass and acknowledged the other's gesture with a nod of his head.

xviii-xviii-xviii-xviii-xviii

Harm drew a deep breath as the door closed behind Secretary and Admiral, and with a rueful grin, turned to Penny Maybridge, "I'm sorry we put you through that, Penny!"

"I'll survive, sailor!" she replied cheerfully, returning the smile as Harm exited her office into the hallway, but, her face creased with worry as she thought, after arguing like that with a two-star, will you, sailor, will you?

Harm headed down the hallway, back to the complex of offices he shared with three other naval officers working directly to the SecNav. Nobody seeing his confident walk and the air of unconcern in his expression would have dreamed that inwardly he was shaking and dreading a summons to the SecNav's office that would inform him that with effect from his encounter with Admiral Chegwidden his naval career had ground to a halt. It was almost with a sigh of relief he opened the door to the ante chamber, to be greeted by Barker's friendly smile.

"Any sign of Commander Coleman, yet, Legalman Two?" he asked.

"Yes, sir, she's in her office, got back abut twenty minutes ago."

"Thanks, Barker." He wheeled and headed for Faith Coleman's office, calling back over his shoulder, "As soon as I've finished speaking with Commander Coleman, I need you in my office, with your pad, OK?"

"Yessir!"

Harm nodded, and turning his attention to the door in front of him, he rapped twice of the doorjamb, turning the door handle and stepping into the office on the invitation to enter.

Faith Coleman swallowed nervously as she saw her visitor. She had spent the best part of the last three weeks avoiding any contact with her erstwhile client. Now caught in her office she had nowhere to run and hide. Nervously, she got to her feet, "How may I help you, sir?"

"Sit down, please, Commander," Harm said, and indicating an empty chair, he added, "If I may?"

"Of course, sir!"

Harm seated himself and waited until the female officer the other side of the desk had also taken her seat. He noticed that she sat bolt upright in her chair, her upper and lower legs forming an almost perfect right angle.

Faith Coleman regarded him with trepidation, she was aware that her defence of Commander Rabb during his Court Martial had not been one of her better moments, and that she had been thrown into a major trial before she'd been prepared for the experience. She had honestly expected to be facing charges of Dereliction of Duty for providing him with an inadequate defence, and had breathed a sigh of relief when she's heard that he had resigned his commission. Now that he had been re-instated, and worse assigned to the same office, she had been in an agony of anticipation, waiting for the other shoe to fall. But now she had nowhere to run or hide; the only option was to face the music.

"Sir, if this is to do with your court martial…" she began.

"No, it's not…" Harm answered her, "Well, not directly, although if you had been a civilian attorney, I would seriously considered the idea of suing you for malpractice. But that…" he held up a hand to stop her protest, "was in the immediate aftermath of the case. Since then I've had time to consider and reflect on your performance, and also to read the transcripts of your previous capital cases. Frankly Commander, I'm not impressed. Most of the cases you won should never have gotten to court, and all could have been won by a first year law student. Sadly, it seems that someone saw your win/lose record and decided that was the only criteria involved in selecting you for the defence."

He regarded her in silence for a few moments, "Faith, you've got a decent record. You have performed well here at the Pentagon, and despite the Singer case, I feel that you have potential; to become a good trial counsel – once you have been given the opportunity to hone your courtroom skills. I have made those representations to the SecNav and he agrees with me. So… I'm here to give you a heads up. Sometime within the next forty-eight hours you will be receiving orders to PCS to a TSO somewhere in CONUS. Have you any preferences?"

"Am I to consider this a punishment posting, sir?"

Harm sighed, "No, Faith. The idea is not to punish to you, but to place you in a situation where you can benefit from the advice and experience of other trial counsel."

"It's just that… I don't… seem to get on with other… people, sir. It's why I've been happiest here."

"Which is just one more reason to give you a gentle nudge in another direction." Harm waited for her reaction, and when it was not forthcoming he asked gently, "Have you any ties to any particular state or area?"

Faith Coleman looked at him helplessly, "What ties I have, sir are bound up with the mid-Atlantic region, sir," she said so softly it was almost a whisper.

"Alright, Faith, we'll find you something in the area. You can expect your orders to direct you to report to your new billet in early January. In the meantime, if you are having any problems linked with the move, come and talk to me, OK?"

"Yes, sir. Thank you sir." Again her voice was barely above a murmur.

Harm excused himself and closing her door behind him as he left her office, he turned to Barker, "Ready Legalman Two?" he asked.

"Ready, aye, sir!" Barker replied

Harm led Barker into his office, "Take a pew, Barker, and get ready for some pretty complex note taking!"

He waited until she was settled and then asked, "How long will it take you to hand over your duties here?"

"Uh… one working, week, sir!"

"Good… In that case, cut orders for Legalman Petty Officer First Class Coates, Jennifer A, to PCS from JAG HQ Falls Church to the Office of the SecNav. To take effect from Monday week. Then cut orders for Legalman Petty Officer Two Barker to PCS from the Office of the SecNav to JAG HQ, Falls Church. To be effective from the following Monday." Harm smiled as Barker's face split into a huge grin.

"Thank you, sir!" she said exuberantly. "I must admit, sir, that I thought you'd forgotten!"

"Not at all, Barker, not at all. I just had to find the right time! Now, onto the real business of the afternoon!"

He walked around his desk and dragging a second visitors' chair alongside Barker's he spread the Manning Plot Spread Sheet out on his desk.

"I need you to come up with two mail-merged letters. The first is to be addressed to all those officers with a 'One' in the column marked 'Tranche'. This letter is an invitation to those officers to apply for a PCS to any of the billets listed against those officers names in Tranche two. The second letter is to be addressed to those officers in Tranche Two, inviting them to apply for any of the billets in Tranche One." He paused, "Does that make sense?"

"Yes, sir," Barker said, although slightly uncertainly."Officers in Tranche One to apply for billets in Tranche Two and then the other way around?"

"That's it, good for you! Now, all those letters are to be copied to all BUPERS detailers for designator 2500. Deadline for preferences will be December twenty-fourth, all applications to be at this office by that date. Not in transit, but at this office, All officers in Tranches One and Two will PCS – no exceptions, and all PCS are to be complete by March first, understood?"

"Aye, sir!"

"And last but not least, four more sets of orders to be cut. Firstly, Lieutenant Commander Lydia Bellingham – she's a Tranche One name – so don't send her a letter of invitation, just her orders. To PCS to the Office of the SecNav, to report here by January first. Second, Lieutenant Commander Megan Austin, to PCS to JAG HQ, Falls Church, again by January First, third, Major McBurney – look up his details on the Rabb Court-Martial file – to PCS to JAG HQ Falls Church, again by January First, and finally, Lieutenant Commander Faith Coleman… to PCS from the Office of the SecNav to…" he thought for a few seconds, "RLSO Mid-Atlantic, Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, again effective January First." The decision made, he drew another breath. "All Orders and letters copied to BUPERS and detailers, and to the appropriate USMC Monitor for Major McBurney, and all to go out under the SecNav's signature. And," he grinned wickedly, "By endex tomorrow! But get the individual orders out first, OK?"

"Aye, aye, sir!"

"Any problems, get back to me!"

"Yes, sir. And sir?"

Harm cocked an eyebrow as Barker got to her feet, collecting the manning plot as she did so, "Thanks, again, sir!"

Harm waited until Barker had left his office, and then dialled a fast-becoming-familiar Langley, Virginia number. "Hey, beautiful, how's the work load?"

"_Hey, Harm… Approaching critical mass, I'm afraid… and I could really use some help… but I can't ask you because..."_ Harm frowned, Catherine sounded… tired… or maybe even a little depressed.

"Oh, let me guess – I don't need to know!"

"_Damn!_" Catherine's voice perked up, "_I love it when you talk spook to me… it's such a turn-on_!"

"You shouldn't have said that, sweetheart," he teased her; "I've now got all sorts of NSFW images running through my mind! But, making a major effort here, I'll try and revert to the reason I called."

"_Oh, you had to have a reason_?"

"Well, yeah, I can't call you up just to flirt with you on Uncle Sam's nickel!"

"_Is this going to cause me more work or worry?"_

"No… it's just that it occurred to me with this Ms Des Moines coming to visit us tomorrow, I thought it would be good if both of us could get to Kresge after secure? Because I don't think we can risk not being there on time when this woman calls round tomorrow!"

Catherine giggled, "_It's Le Moyne, Harm! For God's sake get it right tomorrow! But you're right, we can't risk being late for her tomorrow. And it's been a few days since we both got to see Mom together. Are you going to call for Mattie on the way?_"

"Uh… no, not today. I figured that all three of us could go see your Mom on Friday, and then again sometime over the weekend. Mattie's still a bit exuberant, and I don't want your Mom to tire out too much!"

Catherine became serious, "_I don't think that's such a good idea Harm. Remember how ambivalent Mattie got last night? I don't think we ought to exclude Mattie from any age appropriate activity. Besides, you know how well she and Mom get on_!"

Harm nodded, "Good argument Counsellor. I'll give her a call, and we'll both see you at Kresge, about seventeen forty hours? That'll give us nearly an hour before it's time for your Mom's evening meds." Many visits to the Kresge Medical centre had inculcated in Catherine and Harm a fine awareness of the hospital routine.

"_OK, Harm, see you later_!"

"Yeah, later, baby," Harm growled down the phone, and was rewarded by an overacted whimper at the other end. Smiling, he disconnected the call and dialled Catherine's home number.

"Hey, Mattie…"

xviii-xviii-xviii-xviii-xviii

Mac shook her head. It just couldn't be done, her sitting in the big chair effectively removed her from litigation leaving her with only two experienced trial lawyers, Sturgis Turner and Bud Roberts, in addition to Manetti, who as far as her courtroom abilities were concerned, was very much an unknown quantity to Mac, and with Turner's present attitude to Roberts, putting the two of them into the same courtroom would be like pouring gasoline into a fire.

She had spent most of the morning trying to move cases to other TSOs in the North Central Region, even managing to transfer two down to the Memphis Branch Office, but she still had way too many cases pending, and not enough attorneys to go around.

Mac sighed, she hated bargaining from a position of weakness, and although she might be the acting JAG she was outranked by any one of half a dozen four ringers who commanded regional offices, and could only ask for, rather than demand, help. Reaching for the 'phone, Mac pressed the talk button and got an immediate response from her yeoman.

"_Yes, ma'am_?"

"Coates, get me a line to Captain Richardson at Newport, please."

"_Yes, ma'am!"_

xviii-xviii-xviii-xviii-xviii

Edward Sheffield smiled, as he sipped the last of his second shot of Wild Turkey. The door had only just shut behind Rear Admiral A J Chegwidden, USN (Retired). It had taken two shots of Bourbon and a further hour of hard talking to make the stubborn former SEAL realise that any charges laid against Commander Rabb would be seen as being petty and vindictive. Oh, the old sea dog had readily, well almost readily, admitted that he had mishandled not only the whole JAG office in general but Commander Harmon Rabb in particular, but still the Admiral had wanted to raise charges of insubordination against his former officer. But Chegwidden was gone now, and no longer his concern. What was his concern was getting somebody into that big chair at Falls Church before the whole of JAG ended up as a gigantic cluster fuck. The trouble was, there weren't many admirals in the Navy who had passed a bar exam somewhere, even in the dim mists of ancient history. But, he had an idea.

Leaning forward, he pressed the 'call' button on his intercom. "Penny, what time is it in Brussels?"

"_It'll just becoming up to four o'clock in the afternoon, Mister Secretary_"

"Good, get hold of Admiral Tucker at NATO JFC Brunssum, please."

"_Yes, Mister Secretary_."

For a moment or two Edward Sheffield debated whether or not to pour himself a further shot of bourbon, but decided against it. His wife seemed to have an uncanny knack of knowing just how much he'd drunk during any given day, and he really didn't want to endure another of her rants on the perils of daytime drinking.

He was not left with his sobering reflections for long before his phone gave its discreet buzz.

"Sheffield."

"Mister Secretary, I have Admiral Tucker on line two for you."

"Thank you, Penny, put her through please." He waited a few seconds while the connection was made and then, leaning back in his chair, so that his suit jacket fell open, he hooked a thumb into the armhole of his vest and said expansively, "Amanda, hello, how are you?"

"_I'm well, thank you Mister Secretary_!"

"Amanda, how long have we known each other? And I'm Mister Secretary?"

"_You are when you call me at the office, Mister Secretary_."

"Ah… I remember when you used to call me Edward…"

"_Paris was a long time ago, Mister Secretary,"_

"Not that long ago!"

"_Mister Secretary, I was a jg, and you were an intern for the senator from…"_

"Idaho, yes. I hadn't forgotten. But was it really all those years ago?"

Amusement and memory added warmth to the female voice in his ear, "_Yes… yes, it was, Mister Secretary… But, you didn't make a transatlantic call just to talk about the past, did you?_"

"No, I'm actually calling you about the future. Your future." Sheffield added with heavy emphasis.

"_Go on… you've caught my interest_."

"AJ Chegwidden has retired as JAG. I'm looking for a replacement for him. Are you interested?"

"_Where's the advantage in that for me?"_

"Amanda, you've got to keep this absolutely quiet. If word leaks out, I shall deny all knowledge of this conversation, and I _will_ hang you out to dry. The joint Chiefs are pushing the house to agree that all three service JAGs should be three star appointments, with a two star deputy. Now are you interested, or not?"

"_Mister Secretary, if all goes according to your plan, then you've gotten yourself a Navy JAG!_"

Sheffield smiled in satisfaction. Not only had he caught a Navy JAG, he'd gotten one who tough-minded, fair, intelligent, and now one who was in his debt!

"The situation here is getting a bit out of hand Amanda, the current incumbent pro-tem is a Light Colonel of Marines. Start packing, I'll have your orders for TDY cut tomorrow, and then subject to senate committee approval, of course, that TDY will become a PCS. But look to be in situ before Christmas!"

"_Yes, Mister Secretary!"_

"'Bye Amanda, look forward to seeing you soon!"

"_Yes, Mister Secretary!"_

xviii-xviii-xviii-xviii-xviii

Having been caught out on his first day at the Pentagon by the gridlock that hit the Pentagon's enormous complex of parking lots at secure Harm waited long enough to be fairly certain that there was going to be no immediate fallout from his unexpected confrontation with AJ, before he secured for the day, and telling barker that he was headed for the hospital, he was indeed able to beat the gridlock and in a comparatively few minutes he was heading for Georgetown to collect Mattie.

Over the past month, as it had grown darker, so he had forbidden Mattie to wait on the doorstep for him and asked her to wait in the apartment. A lively and remarkably free and frank exchange of ideas had, on that occasion, resulted in a compromise. Mattie would wait in the building lobby and not come out until Harm was stood on the doorstep, ready to take her straight to the car.

This evening she was waiting impatiently just inside the door, her face almost pressed to the glass and her hand visoring the reflections and allowing her to see outside. The instant she saw Harm she threw the door open, and lunged down the steps at him, throwing her arms around his neck and crying exuberantly "Lower altitude!"

Harm obediently bent his head and was rewarded by an enthusiastic kiss on his cheek. Straightening up, he removed Mattie's arms from his neck and grinned down at her, "Not that I'm complaining, but that was for, what exactly?"

"Oh," Mattie said airily as she linked her arms through his, "That's for taking me to see Catherine's Mom, for being on time – so I don't have to listen to you get frustrated by and swear at the rat runners – for being you, and… well… just because!"

Harm grinned down at her again, as she lifted her eyes to look into his face, "You know something, Mats? Even when I was a kid, I never thought much of 'because' as a reason!"

"Yeah? Well get used to it buster, 'cos that's the only reason you're getting!"

"Yeah, my Mom used to say the same thing!"

"Harmon Rabb!" Mattie exclaimed indignantly, "Are you comparing me to your mother!"

"Oh, no Mattie Grace! I'm not getting into that one with you!" he laughed as he unlocked the car. "G'wan, git in thar!"

As soon as they were both securely belted in, Harm pointed the SUV towards Pimmett Hills. Mattie settled back and watched the lighted store fronts pass until they were clear of Georgetown and then grinning slyly across at Harm she said, "Besides…"

"Besides, what, Squirt?"

"Besides every time we all go to see Esther, neither you nor Catherine want to cook dinner by the time we get home, and we get to order in."

"And?" Harm took his eye of the road for a second to try and gauge where this gambit was headed.

"Well, recently we've had Thai, Chinese, Lebanese, Italian, Provencal, Greek… so that means we're about due for a pizza!"

Harm laughed, "I tell you what Mats, we'll get a pizza tonight…"

"Yeah, well! OK!" she exulted.

"Unless that bid is trumped."

Mattie glared at him suspiciously, "How would it get trumped?"

"Well, Catherine gets the final vote, and as she's the one who's pregnant, she gets the baby's casting vote too!"

"Oh… that is so not fair!" Mattie said torn between annoyance and amusement. "So… does that mean if I want to get to choose what we eat, I have to get knocked up too?"

"Mattie Grace!" Harm exploded. "That is so not going to happen for at least another twenty years! Longer if I have any say in the matter!"

Mattie giggled, "Gotcha!"

Harm shot Mattie an evil-eye sort of look which only had the effect of sending her into more giggles, so drawing the tattered shreds of his dignity around him he relapsed into silence for the rest of the journey. A silence that was punctuated by recurring fits of giggles from the passenger's seat.

At length drawing to a halt in the parking lot at Kresge, Harm cast his eye around in a search for Catherine's Malibu, finally spotting it, in a well-lit spot near the main entrance. He nodded in approval, and pulled into an empty slot just a couple of vehicles away.

Turning the key in the ignition, he half turned in his seat to look at Mattie, who now, with an expression of angelic innocence, smiled beatifically at him. Harm grinned, and shook his head, "Come on, pain! Let's go visit Grandma!"

Wrapping her arms around her to ward off the evening chill after basking in the warmth of the car's heating, Mattie tucked her chin into her chest and hurried ahead of Harm to reach the warm and well lit hospital lobby.

Harm who until then hadn't given much thought to Mattie's wardrobe gave a frown, and catching up with the teenager, he looked askance at her padded gilet and asked, "Haven't you got a proper coat? I thought I saw one on my credit card receipts for last month?"

"Yeah, Catherine got me one to wear for the court hearing, but it's a bit too… nerdish for normal, everyday, things, ya know?" Mattie ended on a hopeful note.

"What you mean, is you don't like, because it isn't cool?" Harm asked somewhat severely.

"No, not exactly," Mattie tried to explain, "It's actually a beautiful coat. But it's the sort of coat you'd wear over a dress, or a skirt and jacket, or a dress pants suit. It's not the sort of coat you could wear with jeans or joggers, you know? And it's a light khaki colour, and it'd get real dirty, real quick." Mattie finished as they entered Esther Gale's room.

Esther was already sat up in bed, talking animatedly with Catherine and a petite brunette in a lab coat, with a stethoscope draped around her neck. Esther's eyes lit up with even more delight, as she spotted Mattie!

"Mattie, honey, it's so good to see you again! Come and tell me all about what you've been doing!" And dropping her voice to a stage whisper, she added "And spill some dirt on these two!"

Mattie flashed Harm and Catherine a grin and perched on the side of Esther's bed, giving her a warm hug and a kiss on the cheek, "Well I did catch them making out on the sofa, last night," she whispered to Esther.

"H'mph," Esther snorted, "Well, it's about damn time!" sending Mattie into further giggles.

Harm paused to glare at Mattie, and then slipped his arm around Catherine's shoulders, dropping a short kiss on her lips before straightening up, and greeting the other woman. "Good evening Doctor Cameron, it's good to see you again! It's always good to see, you in fact, and you've done so much for Esther!"

"Good evening to you too, Commander! I hope you realise that because I've met your family that flattery is going to get you precisely nowhere!" Alison Cameron smiled.

"If it was flattery, Doctor, then I would accept your rebuke with equanimity, but as it wasn't flattery…" Harm clasped his hand to his chest and staggered backwards in mock pain.

Catherine laughed, "Clown! Stop it! Or I'll have to try the two hundred foot waddle! Doctor, can't you do something about this bladder problem!"

Alison Cameron chuckled, "Well I could probably schedule some sort of procedure in say… six weeks' time?"

"Well, gee, thanks, Doc!" Catherine drawled in sarcastic acknowledgement.

Harm frowned, "Six weeks… but isn't that just about when the baby's due?" Then as the realisation hit him, he muttered a crestfallen "Oh. I've just been got again, haven't I?"

Alison and Catherine smiled and nodded in agreement, "I should say so," Catherine grinned.

"I was just asking how Catherine was," Doctor Cameron added, "I'm no OB, although I have done rotations in L and D, but everything sounds about right!"

"Yeah, Catherine grumped, "I'm about the size of the Goodyear blimp, I haven't seen my feet for weeks, my back aches and my legs hurt, I can't sit down, I can't stand up, I'd kill for a cup of coffee and…"

"As I said, everything seems to be normal!" Doctor Cameron smiled, not unsympathetically at Catherine, and then picking up her notes from the foot of the bed, she added, "Anyway, you didn't come out here to visit with me, so I'll leave you to Esther's tender mercies! And you," she added, turning to her patient, "don't be too hard on her, that's your granddaughter in there you know!"

With an all-encompassing smile, she turned and left the room, leaving a grinning Mattie a smiling Esther and a scowling Catherine behind her.

"All normal, everything going well, my ass!" she grumbled, "I'd like to see her being so goddam cheerful at seven and a half months!"

"Yeah, and she's so petite, that she'd probably look like a house that far along!" Harm added in an attempt at comfort.

Catherine turned to glare at him, "Don't try to make me feel better! Not when I've got a legitimate complaint! It doesn't help."

"No, dear, sorry, dear," Harm answered in way overacted tones of contrition, and fighting desperately to keep a straight face.

Mattie and Esther were, if the amusement sparkling in their eyes was anything to go by, hugely enjoying the comedy being performed in front of them, and their amusement was only increased when Harm complained, "Well, seeing as how I've already gotten grief from Mattie, and now I'm getting it from Catherine, I'll see if I can get some sympathy from Esther!" Crossing to the bed, he bent and took Esther in a gentle hug and kissed her gently on the cheek, his eyes carefully searching hers for any sign that she might be dissembling when he asked, "How are you today, Esther?"

"I'm pretty good, Harm. Pretty good. Doctor Cameron is keeping a close eye on my blood-iron levels, and she's such a tonic in herself too, she always has a smile and a polite word. And I'm very lucky that way with Nurse Bridget too! Doctor Cameron had me wheeled down to the day room again today for lunch, and I was able to sit there for a couple of hours and read a book. But," and she shrugged, "I got a bit tired about two o'clock, so I had one of the orderlies wheel me back here and I had a little nap. But that's all the excitement I've had today. But what about you?" she asked, the old mischief dancing in her eyes, "any flying around the world, keeping us all safe? Or spraying dust on crops? Or were you Perry Mason, tricking the bad guys into confessing all?"

"No nothing like that today, but I was cheeky to an Admiral!"

"What, the mean, old, bald guy?" Mattie asked eagerly.

"Yep, A J Chegwidden himself!" Harm confirmed.

"Cool!" Mattie enthused, "what did you say?"

Harm related the morning's events, deliberately downplaying the very serious consequences they could have had for him, and placing exaggerated emphasis on anything that might possibly be seen as comedic. By the time he'd finished his tale, all three women were wiping tears of laughter from their eyes.

Harm sat back, happy that the women now in his life were, for the moment at least, free from cares about health, pregnancy and guardianship


	19. Chapter 19

**19**

Harm breathed a sigh of relief as he locked his desk he had half-expected at some stage during the day to be summoned by the SecNav and hauled over the coals over yesterday's confrontation with Admiral Chegwidden, it really had been like waiting for the other shoe to drop. But now, as he was securing for the day, albeit twenty minutes or so early, it seemed that either the SecNav had not (unlikely as it may seem) realised that anything was amiss between the two officers, or, and Harm felt a prickle of suspicion, he had for some reason (probably Machiavellian) decided to do nothing about it - for the moment at least.

But now other, more important, domestic matters pushed any professional worries to the back of his mind, where he could shovel them into the appropriate compartment and leave them there until the morning, until after one of the most important interviews of his life. Until after the meeting with Donna Le Moyne, Mattie's Court Appointed Guardian _Ad Litem._

Passing through the outer office, he paused at Legalman Two Barker's desk where the young woman was stuffing letters and orders into envelopes, "All going well, Barker?"

"Yes, sir – although I reckon I'm going to be another hour, maybe an hour and half until this is all done."

Harm used his cover almost as a pointer, for added emphasis, "OK… but don't work on too late. I know the parking lot is pretty well lit, but I also know that the enlisted parking lots are the furthest from the building, and I don't like the idea of you walking almost half a mile across a nearly empty lot after dark and on your own.

Barker smiled, it was so typical of Commander Rabb to worry, and it was not a concern she had met before either – well that wasn't quite true, Commander Manetti had cautioned her before on pretty much the same subject, but then again Commander Manetti was a woman. "I'll be careful, sir, she assured him, and if it is dark, I'll ask the MPs for a ride out to my car…." She saw his eyebrow begin to lift and added, "Honestly, sir, I will. I promise!"

"Well, you just be sure and do that!" Harm grinned, he liked the young woman and would be sad to see her go, but it was in the best interests of her career, and besides, by replacing her with Jennifer Coates, he would also be in a position to help his favourite protégée to advance in her career.

"I will, sir!" Barker protested.

"OK, then, good night, Barker!"

"Good night, sir!"

Barker watched the office door swing shut behind him and stared at with a soft smile playing across her lips, and then for about the forty eleventh time since Commander Rabb had started his tour at the SecNav's Office, she sighed wistfully and gave herself an imaginary slap upside the head. "Get a grip girl!" she told herself severely.

"Talking to yourself, Petty Officer?" Faith Coleman asked as she left her office and stepped into the outer office.

"Not really, ma'am." Barker said, "More of a self-motivational chewing-out for not being entirely with the programme."

Faith Coleman's eyes flitted between Commander Rabb's office door and the door leading out to the hallway, a faint smile appeared on her lips, "Yes, sometimes it's hard not to get distracted, isn't it?"

"Ma'am?"

"Scuttlebutt has it that you're leaving us shortly, Barker?"

"Yes, ma'am, I had my orders cut today." And so did you, she thought, but refrained from speaking her thought out loud.

Faith nodded, "Yes, I'd heard. Sometimes it's best to just move on, before you get too comfortable with a billet…" she paused and looked the younger woman straight in the eye, "or the people with whom you work, or under whose command you work…"

Barker could not fight back the faint blush which suffused her face and made her feel that the tips of her ears were burning, "No, ma'am," was all the answer she could find, and that in a suffocated accent.

Faith Coleman nodded, satisfied that she'd made her point and with a twitch of the lips that could charitably be classified as a smile she said "Good night, Petty Officer,"

"Good night, ma'am." Once again Barker watched the door close behind a departing officer, but this time her sigh had nothing wistful about it, but was composed of relief, mixed with a little worry. "Surely to God, I haven't been that damn obvious?" She asked herself.

xix-xix-xix-xix-xix

Harm settled himself behind the wheel of the Lexus and pulled his cell 'phone out of his pocket and pressed Speed Dial #1. It was funny in a way, but even after all that had passed between them, he still half expected to hear Mac's voice answer when he pressed that particular button. But…

"_Catherine Gale…"_

"Hi, boo'ful, just checking to make sure you haven't forgotten…"

"_I'm on my way out now, Harm… in fact, I'm just passing the wall…"_

"OK, I'll see you at home in… say… twenty minutes?"

"_Best make it thirty minutes_, Harm."

"Split the difference, call it twenty five?" he asked hopefully.

Catherine's laugh was evident in her voice as she replied, "You just can't help yourself, can you? You're just a natural-born negotiator!"

"My predilection or otherwise for negotiation has nothing to do with it," Harm answered, doing nothing to keep the warmth out of his voice, "It's just that after a long day at work, I just can't wait to see my beautiful, pregnant girlfriend."

"Oh…" Catherine was startled into silence for a moment, she might have misinterpreted the depth of feeling he was expressing in his voice, but…

"_What did you just call me?"_ she asked, cautiously optimistic.

"M'mm…" Harm thought rapidly as he tried to recall exactly what he'd just said, "My beautiful, pregnant, girlfriend," he affirmed.

"_Oh… that's what I thought..."_ Catherine answered with a happy little sniffle.

"Hey, what else am I going to call the woman who shares my life and who is going to be the best mom in the world to our little girls?"

"_Go, get going_," Catherine said, "_otherwise all the time we've gained in finishing early will be lost in talking. And we can do that when we get home._"

"Yes, ma'am!" Harm smiled, and closed his phone.

Catherine stood just inside the main door of the Langley HQ complex and stared at the now-silent 'phone in her hand, "Damn you Harmon Rabb," she muttered, "You were so close there for a second or two… I really thought you were going to say it! Just what the hell did that bitch do to you?"

xix-xix-xix-xix-xix

Mattie looked anxiously at her reflected image, at least Harm and Catherine hadn't tried to make her wear a damn' dress, but she wasn't sure that this polo-neck sweater over a button down shirt thing was really her either. And her eyes were still a bit watery from the ruthless way Catherine had dragged comb and brush through her tangle of curls, and seeing her hair brushed into submission was so just weird that it made her doubt that it was her image she could see.

But still… Catherine always looked so good that it was hard to doubt her judgement, but Catherine had the advantage of being naturally beautiful to start with, and her pregnancy just made her even more so.

But now… something had obviously happened to piss… uh… tick Catherine off… she had barely been civil to Harm when he'd gotten in from work, and she sure had been energetic and had disregarded Mattie's complaints when she had attacked – yeah, attacked was the right word – Mattie's hair. There hadn't been any indication of any arguments coming from Catherine's … their bedroom, as they were getting changed, and nothing now emanating from the living room, but there had been a strained silence between them. Catherine was mad at Harm, but Harm, when Mattie had caught his eye, had spread his hands and given his head a little shake, baffled as to what he'd done to upset the blonde woman. Mattie sighed, she just hoped that Catherine could put whatever it was aside until this Guardian woman had been and come and gone.

xix-xix-xix-xix-xix

Harm sat on the edge of the bed as he watched Catherine silently finish getting ready for their visitor. He was ready; he'd be damned if he was going to sit around all evening in his Service Dress Blues and had quickly showered and changed into a pair of charcoal grey slacks and a mid-blue button down shirt. Catherine too had decided to change clothes and was now stepping into her charcoal grey stretch knit dress that at this stage really emphasised her burgeoning figure. Harm wasn't sure whether her making such a point of her pregnancy was a good thing or a bad thing,but he'd already had his head bitten off when he'd attempted to broach the subject, and had decided that it would be much wiser to let the matter drop. He had no idea why she was mad at him, or what he could possibly have done between ending the 'phone call and arriving home, but the cold disdain with which she had greeted him and the deliberate way she had avoided his kiss made it plain to him that somehow, somewhere along the line, he had, in Catherine's eyes, royally screwed up.

Seeing her now struggling to inch the zipper up the last six inches or so to her neck line in back, he stood and walking up behind her he put his hands gently on her shoulders, and said quietly, "Let me,"

Catherine froze for an instant and then dropped her hands to her side. Harm finished closing the zipper, and then replacing his hands gently on her shoulders, he looked at their image in the mirror and asked, "OK, I surrender. What did I do, or say that caused this sudden drop in temperature?"

Catherine sighed and turned to face him, "Nothing…"

Harm's face suddenly became a picture of confusion, "I didn't do or say anything…?"

Catherine looked up at him her eyes beginning to tear, "No… it's not what you said or did… I guess it's me wishing that…" she stopped suddenly aware that she had been about to betray her innermost feelings, something she didn't want to do, or was prepared to consider doing unless she was pretty sure of what Harm's response was going to be, and despite all that had happened between them, the way he cared for her, the way she sometimes caught him looking at her, he was so good at securing his emotions behind those inner walls that she still wasn't sure how he'd react if she told him how she really felt.

Harm stood for a second more, still baffled by Catherine's non-explanation, and then letting his hands slip down her arms, he caught her hands in his and stepped backwards to the bed, sitting once again on its edge, and gently drawing her down so that she sat on his knee. Supporting her with one arm braced across her back, he used one long finger of his other hand to raise her chin, tipping her face up towards his before cupping her cheek and using his thumb to wipe away the tears that had overflowed from her eye.

Catherine hiccupped and after a damp sniff or two, she burrowed her head into the hollow of his shoulder, "I'm sorry," she whispered, "so, so sorry…"

"That's OK, sweetheart," he murmured, "You're allowed to get upset…"

"Catherine, although still hiding her face in Harm's shoulder, shook her head, "No, I don't think I can let my hormones take the blame for this one… and besides, even if they were, it's not your fault I'm pregnant…"

Harm tightened his grip an infinitesimal degree, "No, it's not," he agreed in a whisper, "But, oh, how I wish it was…"

Catherine gasped in shock, and pulled back against his supporting arm, "Do you really mean that?" she asked. It was about the last thing on earth she'd expected him to say.

Harm blinked at her in astonishment, "Of course I mean it! You're wonderful, kind, generous, gentle, warm-hearted, understanding – well for the most part," he grinned, "What is there about you not to love, and not want you to be the mother of my children. Catherine, any sane man..."

"You just… just shut up, Harmon Rabb!" Catherine interrupted her eyes suddenly sparkling, "What did you just say?"

Harm looked down into her eyes, now almost as dark as his own, and marvelled how they seemed to change colour with her emotions. Seeing her so expose her inner self to him allowed him to let his own walls come crashing down, and realise that what he had said to comfort her was indeed the truth, "I said… no… I asked what is there about you not to love."

"Oh… Harm… Harmon Rabb…. Did… did you… did you just say… that… you… you love me?"

Harm looked at her in surprise, "Of course I said I love you! Catherine, surely you can't have been in any doubt? I've been in love with you for… well, since I don't know when… I admired you from the moment we met on the Angelshark case… even though I got so mad at you for blocking every move we made, although you were only doing your job, and then, even when I thought I was still in love with Mac… when I was so desperate to find her… and we had that absurd mock-wedding at Kresge… well, half-way through that so-called ceremony, I got to feeling that it ought to be the real thing.. and then when I got back from Paraguay… on top of the fall-out from my time in the brig, the feeling that my friends had deserted me, that my CO had betrayed me… through all that you were there – as a friend, and then you came to me when Webb had me fired to offer me… or to look for a friendly shoulder to lean on… and I asked if congratulations were in order… you said they always were when a baby was involved… and there was just something about you at that instant that totally captured my heart. And that feeling has grown stronger with every hour that I've been with you."

"But… you never said…" Catherine protested feebly

"No… I didn't, did I?" Harm said wonderingly. And then a worrying thought him, "But what about…"

Catherine looked up at him in amazement, "Dumb-ass, of course I love you – I have done for months – why do you think I was always so hostile to MacKenzie, or why I said 'yes' to your crazy proposition! Why do you think I was so worried about talking to your mom?"

"Oh, it's just that you never said so…." Harm said sheepishly.

"Well… I wasn't about to risk humiliation if it turned out that you didn't love me!" Catherine grinned, "I'd already gone that route with…" she broke off what she was saying with a gasp of dismay and took hold of Harm's hand and gently pressed it to her bump, and hastily amended her sentence "with Elizabeth's father – her biological father, I mean, 'cos her real father is right here acting as my armchair!" she finished softly.

Harm pinched the bridge of his nose in effort to disguise the tears her words had brought to his eyes, and sat silently for a moment or two, just gently holding Catherine close to him. Eventually, her cleared his throat and somewhat gruffly said, "Well, we'd better check to see what damage this little gab fest has wrought – I'm pretty sure that if this Des Moines sees us with reddened eyes she'll think we're a pair of basket cases, totally unfit to be guardians of a teenage girl!"

Catherine giggled damply, "Yeah, I'd better check my war paint, while you'd best go and get some cold water on your face. At least I have the advantage that way!"

"You know, that is just so not fair!" Harm grinned as he helped Catherine to her feet.

"Get used to it, sailor!"

xix-xix-xix-xix-xix

Mattie glanced up from the magazine she was trying to interest herself in as Harm and Catherine came out of their bedroom into the living room. Scowling suspiciously at them, she was relieved to see that they seemed to have resolved whatever had been wrong between them. Harm was supporting and guiding Catherine with a hand placed encouragingly in the small of her back, while Catherine was leaning back against it and at the same time smiling up at him.

With an exaggerated and highly audible sigh of relief Mattie rolled her eyes and said, "Well it's about damn' time!"

"What is?" Catherine asked distractedly.

"About time the two of you got over whatever had set you going this afternoon! If Miss Whatshername had seen the two of you an hour ago – I'd be on my way to child services just about now. Besides, you two are too good for each other to be so mad at each other!"

"Oh, Mats, sweetheart, we weren't mad at each other," Harm protested as he helped Catherine to settle back into her nest

"No?" Mattie replied pointedly.

"No, it was just a bit of miscommunication, kiddo," Catherine added, "And it was all – well, ninety per cent my fault!"

"No, it was fifty-fifty…" Harm began.

"Sheesh! Will you to listen to yourselves!" Mattie protested, "Can't you even agree on who has what part of the blame!"

The look of indignation on Mattie's face was so marked that when added to her words, Harm and Catherine stopped trying to apportion blame and looked at her in amazement, and then looking at each other and back at Mattie, they both burst into peals of laughter.

Mattie glared at them both, but the pretence of anger was too hard to continue, and she added her own giggles to the laughter which gradually died away, until Harm, mopping his eyes with a clean white handkerchief, said, "Well, I reckon we've got ten minutes before Miss Iowa arrives, so… Mats, could you brew a pot of tea, please? I figure, English Breakfast?" he looked at Catherine and received a confirmatory nod, "Yep, English Breakfast," he confirmed.

Mattie was halfway to the kitchen area when she stopped and turned around, "Miss Iowa?" she queried,

"Now see what you've done!" Catherine scolded harm. "Mattie, Harm has got into his dead that Ms le Moyne is Miss Des Moines, and as Des Moines is…"

"Yeah, in Iowa. I got it!" Mattie gave Harm a pitying look and a sorrowful shake of her head as she continued on her way to the kitchen.

Harm watched her go and as she did, Catherine, who had adopted her favourite snuggling position felt some the tension ease out of him. She looked up and followed the direction of his gaze and in a voice of soft admiration said, "Oh… nicely played, counsellor!"

"Yeah, not bad," he grinned down at her, "even if I say so myself!"

Mattie had barely brewed the tea and poured three cup when the door intercom buzzed. With a confident, "I got it!" she crossed to the intercom unit and pressed the 'call' button, "Yes?"

"This is Ms le Moyne, Donna le Moyne to see Mr Rabb and Miss Johnson." The disembodied voice announced.

Harm winced, but despite the scowl that flashed across her face, Mattie's voice remained civil, as she answered, "Yes, we've been expecting you, come on up."

Harm stood to open the door, and nodded to Mattie that she should take a seat. It was only a minute or so later that a light tap at the door announced that Ms Le Moyne had arrived. Drawing a shaky breath, Harm opened the door. Ms Le Moyne was a slender woman, some few years older than Harm, neatly but conservatively dressed in slacks, jacket and blouse, which were revealed when Harm offered to take her coat. Ushered to the other armchair she waited until Harm had sat down again next to Catherine.

"As you know, I'm Donna le Moyne, the court appointed Guardian _Ad Litem_ for Mathilda Johnson…"

"That's Mattie Grace!" Mattie interrupted. "Nobody calls me Mathilda, and I go by Grace, my Mom's name, not Johnson!"

"I see," Ms Le Moyne smiled, not in the least disturbed by Mattie's outburst, as she made a note on one of the documents she'd brought out of her briefcase, "So... Mister Rabb and Miss Gale, yes?" She arched her eyebrows interrogatively at Harm and Catherine.

"That's Commander Rabb." Mattie muttered mutinously from behind the throw pillow which she was now hugging protectively.

"I see," Donna Le Moyne said apologetically, but with the beginning of a smile hovering on the corners of her mouth. "Mattie, could you give me, the Commander and Miss Gale, a few moments, please?"

Mattie looked questioningly at Harm and Catherine, "Go on sweetheart," Catherine said, I'll make sure they play nice."

Mattie stood, but turned to address Donna, "Yeah, OK… but before I go, can I offer you a cup of tea?" she indicated the three mugs of steaming liquid on the coffee table.

Donna gave Mattie a brief, but genuine smile, "No, no thank you, Mattie, but the offer is appreciated."

Mattie nodded and with a "See you later," disappeared into her bedroom.

The three adults watched her go and it wasn't until the door had closed behind her that Donna Le Moyne turned her attention back to Harm and Catherine. "I'll start with a few simple questions," she told them, "Now… where will Mattie be living?"

"With us," Harm answered, indicating Catherine, as well as himself, while Catherine nodded in confirmation.

"But, not here, I take it?" Donna indicated the stripped appearance of the apartment and the array of boxes stacked along the walls both sides of the door.

"No, we're moving on Friday to a house in Vienna, on Woodford Road," Catherine explained, as she gave Harm a 'Change of Address' slip which he passed to Donna.

Donna nodded, and carefully tucked the slip into one of the documents that had proliferated on her lap.

"And why is Mattie living with you here, now?" she inquired. And although the question was civil enough there was sufficient sharpness in it to ring a warning bell in Harm's mind.

"Mattie is the owner of a small general aviation and crop dusting business based at Blacksburg," he started, "And while nobody disputes her ownership, she is too young to be allowed to hold the requisite FAA licences."

Donna nodded, but sensing more to come, she added, "Go on."

"Well, through my own aviation links, I contacted a previous partner, and with Mattie's consent offered her the position of General Manager of Grace Aviation." Harm hesitated for a moment. "Well, to be brutally honest, Mattie's business was on the skids. Her father – who is now off the scene, had her enduring power of attorney and took out a loan secured on the company, and basically absconded with the cash. Mattie was in danger of losing the company and her home, and she couldn't offer a salary commensurate with the position, so to attract my former partner, Mattie allowed the use of her mom's home – almost adjacent to the airfield as rent-free accommodation to the new manager. Effectively making her homeless."

"I see, but why bring her home to you here. Why not alert CPS – as indeed you should have done the instant you became aware of her situation as a child living without adult guidance and protection?"

"Because I promised I wouldn't." Harm stated baldly, and then taking another deep breath, "Ms Le Moyne, I have done a fair bit of research into 'the system', not just recently in Mattie's case, but a few years ago in another case, and I became aware of the types of children that are easily found foster homes, and fourteen year olds with a chip on their shoulder aren't the easiest to re-home! Ms le Moyne. Are you perhaps familiar with the case of Darlyn and Annie Lewis?"

Donna Le Moyne shook her head, "No… the names don't ring a bell."

"If you'll forgive my cynicism Ms Le Moyne, I didn't think they would. The Lewis girls hardly rank up there with the CPS Stellar Success stories. They… uh… fell through the cracks, I was told. In the event Annie Lewis was beaten to death by her mother's boyfriend and it was only through my intervention that Darlyn escaped an identical fate. I had no intention of letting Mattie Grace 'slip through the cracks' and become another statistic."

"There's no saying that she would have, Commander Rabb," Donna said defensively.

"No… no there's not," Harm conceded, "But would you disagree with the figures that show teenagers that are taken into care often figure prominently in the statistics for runaways, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, prostitution and suicides?"

"No… I can't dispute those figures, Commander Rabb. I wish I could, but we know and acknowledge that the system isn't perfect. Now, having got that off our respective chests," she smiled, "Social services will have to make a visit of inspection to ensure that the housing you offer is appropriate for a fourteen year old girl. They will contact you direct to arrange the home visit. Now, what arrangements have you made for her schooling?"

"We've made provisional arrangements for Mattie to attend the George C Marshall High School, beginning in the new year," Catherine answered, having given Harm a cautionary hand-squeeze and to tell him to 'power down'. "In the meantime, she's welcome to borrow any books we have around the house, and she's encouraged to visit the local library, while both Harm and I are more than happy to answer any general education questions she may have. It's not perfect, I know, but at least she'll be getting some guidance, and we didn't think it was prudent to enrol her in a local school for six weeks until the end of the semester without knowing if she would be able to return to that school after the holidays."

Donna nodded, as if in approval, and made a further note. "And your income is sufficient to enable you to take care of not one, but two children?" she asked with a pointed look at Catherine's swollen stomach.

"Both Harm and I are attorneys in government service. While we may not be able to command the sort of salaries that are available in some private law practices, we have sufficient income to take care of Mattie, this child," Catherine stroked her bump, "and any future children we may decide to have together."

"Although you're a lawyer, Commander Rabb, you are also in the navy. Does your job take you out of town?"

"It has done in the past," Harm acknowledged, "Although I have recently taken up a billet where such absences will be much rarer and of a much shorter duration."

"And does your job take you out of the country?"

"Again, it has done in the past. But I don't expect it to in the foreseeable future. But, as you rightly point out, I am in the navy and billets do change."

"And what about you Miss Gale, would you expect your job to take you of the country?"

"Not at all, Miss le Moyne," I am not employed by the DoD but by the State Department. I wouldn't expect to be out of town for work purposes more than one, maybe two nights a year."

"I see, but if your absences should coincide, do you consider that Mattie is mature enough to cope on her own for a limited period?"

"Well, she has lived on her own for the last six months," Harm pointed out.

"That's not really answering my question, Commander," Donna answered in an uncompromising tone..

"If Catherine and I both have to be out of town at the same time, Ms Le Moyne, then arrangements will be in place for Mattie to be properly looked after!" Harm told her with more than just a hint of chill in his voice. "We will not leave Mattie alone!"

"I see, but you haven't made any arrangements yet?"

"No… Harm agreed reluctantly, "We're… uh… working on that. But I can assure you that Mattie will be well looked after!"

"It's not your assurances I'm interested in, Commander!" Donna said repressively, and turned to a new page of the document in which she was making notes.

"Have you ever been married?"

"No."

"Do you have other children?"

"No, not yet" He lightly touched Catherine's shoulder, and she smiled up at him, at the same time moving her hand to touch his. Donna Le Moyne smiled, the by-play hadn't escaped her, and it was so unselfconscious and spontaneous that she realised it was a genuine action and reaction and not something staged for her benefit.

"I see that Miss Gale has filed for joint guardianship of Mattie, would you consider her to be your significant other?"

"Significant other?" Harm's eyebrows rose and his face creased into a fond smile as he turned to look at Catherine, "No… not significant other, but the woman I love and with whom I am in love."

Donna looked from Harm to Catherine and back again, "Well, that's provided the answer to one of my questions," she smiled.

"And what might that be?" Harm asked, still inclined to be slightly aggressive.

"Oh… just that I now don't have to ask if you're gay!" Donna smiled. And then became serious again. "Miss Gale, when is the baby due?"

"Six weeks," Catherine replied.

"You don't feel that taking on the additional responsibility for a teenager at the same time as having a new baby will be too much for you?"

"No," Catherine was definite. "I shall have the support of my mother..."

"And mine, Harm interjected, "As well as the support of my friends."

Donna nodded and made some more notes and then laying her stack of documents to one side, she leaned forward, here elbows resting on her knees. "Just why do you want custody of this child?" she asked, her eyes fixed on Harm's.

"Someone needs to take care of this little girl!" he exclaimed, surprised at the question.

"She has a biological father."

"We looked for him!"

"And she has other relatives,"

"None of whom are in a position to look after her, and none of them who want to look after her."

"How long have you known Mattie?"

"A while!"

"A while. How did you meet her?"

"I was working for her!"

"Doing what?"

"Crop dusting. She was a good boss!" Harm added emphatically.

"Is this a whim, Commander?"

"No, certainly not!"

"Are you doing this out of pity?"

"No!"

"What are you doing this out of?"

"Out of… affection." Harm finished quietly but defiantly.

Donna Le Moyne leaned forward again and looked straight into Harm's eyes. "It is acceptable to say love, Commander," she admonished him gently, and then added briskly, "I shall need the name of somebody who you believe can vouch for your suitability as a parent…?"

Catherine and Harm exchanged glances, "Mac?" Catherine asked dubiously.

"Umm… probably not a good idea," Harm disagreed, "But… Bud Roberts and Harriet."

Catherine smiled at her memories of Bud the pseudo-minister fumbling his way through the fake marriage ceremony they'd held for her mother's sake, and nodded, "Yes, Bud would be ideal!"

Ms Le Moyne held her pen poised. "Lieutenant Commander Bud Roberts, and his wife Harriet, Lieutenant Sims. They can both be found at JAG Headquarters in Falls Church." Harm explained.

Donna wrote down the details Harm had provided, and then stood, gathering together her sheaf of documents and replacing them in her briefcase. Harm picked up her coat and waited to help her into it. She thanked him with a brief smile and said, "Now, remember, Social Services will contact you about a home visit, and I'll be contacting Commander Roberts. No, please don't get up on my account," she hurriedly said to Catherine as she was about to struggle to her feet.

"It may not seem like it right now Commander, Miss Gale, but this was a good interview, with a lot of positive vibes." She gave them both a further smile, and briefcase in hand opened the door into the hallway and made her way along to the elevator.

Harm watched her go and then closed the door with a 'Whew!" as he exaggeratedly wiped his forehead clean of imaginary perspiration and managed a weak grin, while Catherine vented her release from tension with a nervous giggle.

Harm sank down beside her, "Man, I'd rather do a dozen night traps than face that again!"

"Oh, she wasn't that bad!" Catherine protested.

"Uh…yeah. Yeah, she was!" Harm disagreed, remembering what Mac had once said about his meatless meatloaf, "Anything you feel you need to say wasn't really that bad, probably was!"

"Umm… good point," Catherine conceded.

Harm grinned, "Watch this… Mattie," he said in a conversational tone, "you can stop pretending you're not listening in, and can come out now!"

Before she thought through Harm's words, "Mattie left her bedroom and came into the living room, to be greeted by a shout of laughter from both Harm and Catherine. Glaring at them both she suddenly realised that she'd betrayed her eavesdropping activities, and with a muttered, "Damn! Busted!" collapsed into her favourite chair, and then said defensively as Harm shook an admonitory finger at her, "Well, how else am I supposed to know what's going in in my life!"

xix-xix-xix-xix-xix

Mac had only just taken her seat in the JAG's chair after the morning staff call, and was debating whether to fetch her own coffee or ask Coates to get one for her, when that same petty officer rapped on the doorjamb.

"Enter!" Mac called.

Jen Coates approached the desk, her arms cuddling a stack of file folders and a perplexed expression on her face.

"What is it Coates?"

"Ma'am, while you were in staff call, a special courier arrived from the SecNav's office, ma'am."

Mac bit back a groan, "What did he bring us, Coates?"

"Orders, ma'am."

"Orders? What sort of orders?"

"PCS Orders, ma'am. For Commander Turner, and for me, ma'am. As well as for Major McBurney."

"I don't understand, Coates…"

"Ma'am, I've had orders cut, for a move to the SecNav's office on Monday. Commander Turner has had orders cut for a PCS to the Patrick Henry as Fleet JAG. And Major McBurney… you remember him ma'am, he prosecuted Comm… I mean Mister Rabb, at his court-martial. Well he's been PCS'd to here, along with a PO2 Barker to replace me."

Mac looked at her Yeoman in shock, and the only thing she could think of to say was, "No-one can replace you Coates!"


	20. Chapter 20

**20**

Harm watched as the courier carefully checked each envelope off against the print out, nodding approvingly when he signed for delivery only when he was satisfied that it was complete. He waited until the courier had departed before he crossed to Barker's desk, waving the young petty officer to remain seated even as she was in the act of springing to her feet.

Harm nodded at the sheets of paper on her blotter, "Makes it all seem real doesn't it, Barker?"

Barker's face split into a huge grin, "That it does sir. I know it's silly, because I cut the orders myself, but to have them come back to me all signed and everything…"

Harm grinned, "Keep that attitude Barker, and if you ever lose that feeling when you get orders for a billet you want, then it's probably time you left the navy!"

Barker looked up at Harm, his tone of voice was pleasant enough, but it had carried an edge and looking into his face she saw no sign that he was joking. She nodded, "I will, sir, and if it ever gets to that stage, I'll remember what you said!"

Harm had surprised himself and for a few moments was at a loss; the atmosphere in the office had suddenly become awkward. He had said more, and on a more serious level than he had intended. Giving himself a mental shake, he managed a normal, everyday pleasant smile, and changing the subject in an attempt to deflate the moment, he asked, "Has Commander Coleman arrived?"

"Yes, sir. I took her a coffee about ten minutes ago!"

Harm grinned, the tease back in his voice, "Why is it Barker that Commander Coleman gets coffee and I don't?"

"Because she asked me, sir?"

"Oh. Right. Well, Petty Officer Legalman Second Class Barker, could you please find me a cup of coffee?"

"I think that could be arranged, sir!"

"Thank you, but before you do that, have you got Commander Coleman's orders?"

"I handed them to her when she came in, sir."

"OK, thanks, Barker! Oh, and don't forget the coffee please?" he added as he prepared to knock on Faith Coleman's door.

xx-xx-xx-xx-xx

Mac seemed to snap out her stupor and gave her head a slight shake. "Thank you, Coates. Pass the word for Commander Turner to come and see me please."

Jen placed the armful of folders she holding in Mac's 'In Tray' and returned to her own desk, closing the door behind her and leaving Mac to peruse the personnel orders. Losing Turner might not be a bad thing, Mac mused silently. Certainly his attitude to Bud Roberts was deplorable, and worse, it was becoming noticeable in the bull-pen. OK Bud had screwed the pooch on Sturgis' case review, but it had been a momentary hiccup, but Turner had put down and undermined Roberts on every possible occasion since.

The trouble was, pulling Turner out of JAG left her even more short-handed in the short-term. She'd have to let Manetti fly solo on a couple of minor cases and make the time to observe her in action. And then, at least there was some light on the horizon, Lieutenant Commander Megan Austin to PCS in from Pearl… now where had she heard that name before? And Major McBurney… well, that name she recognised he had been the prosecutor in Rabb's botched trial. Mac frowned it seemed all the problems that JAG – and she – had faced recently stemmed from that one bungled rush to trial. In hindsight, it was no real wonder that Rabb had become morose, withdrawn and sullen in its aftermath. And then had come the nightmare that was Paraguay. Mac shook her head; she was _not_ going over all that again! No matter how badly Rabb had been shaken by being tried for attempted murder, there was absolutely no excuse for his attitude towards her and the things he had said to her. But… she did miss her friend, all the same.

Still, Paraguay hadn't been all bad, without Paraguay she would never have learned how much Clayton loved her and how much she meant to him. Mac heaved a sigh; it was just such a damn shame that now he'd been passed fit again by the Agency medics that he was out of town so often.

Her musings interrupted by a knock on her door, she called out "Enter!"

The door opened and Sturgis Turner strode across the carpeted expanse to halt in front of her desk. "Commander Turner, reporting as ordered, ma'am!" he rapped out.

"Sit down, Sturgis, take the weight off," Mac smiled.

Turner did so, a frown forming on his face as he queried, "Mac, what's up?"

"It seems that SecNav has been quite busy on our behalf," Mac said, "We are getting two new attorneys…"

Turner nodded, "That's good, we could do with the extra hands…"

"It's more than that Sturgis; it's a compliment to you. Congratulations!"

"Colonel… I don't understand…."

Mac stood and handed him a file folder, "You've got orders, Sturgis. For Fleet JAG on board the _Patrick Henry,"_

Turner sat open-mouthed, and Mac was hard put not to giggle at his shocked expression. "It seems, Sturgis that your previous billet was shore-based, as is this one and that if you are going to stand any chance at your O-6 boards, then you are going to need sea-time."

"Mac – I've got years of sea-time!" he protested.

"Yes, yes you have, as a submariner, but not as a JAG."

"I see… may I ask from where these orders originated?"

"Direct from the SecNav, over his personal signature. Sturgis, this seems to have come as a surprise to you…"

"A fine sense of understatement there, Colonel," he said wryly.

"But…" Mac continued as if she hadn't heard him, "I had a feeling something like this was on its way…"

"Why?"

"The Lindsey report… the Singer case… Rabb… That raft of PCS requests from support staff…Now the Admiral retiring… from a new SecNav's perspective, it must look like JAG HQ is spiralling out of control. I have a feeling that the next JAG is going to be riding everyone so hard to make sure that no one puts as much as a toes over the line and that every i and t is dotted and crossed. I reckon that six months down the line, those of us who are at HQ will be wishing for a quiet shipboard billet."

Sturgis looked at her keenly, "You really feel that?"

"Yes, Sturgis, I do, and to such an extent that if I wasn't wearing the big chair, I'd already be talking to my monitor. I have four years to go until my twenty. I used to think that I'd be a lifer… but now… I'm thinking twenty and out."

Sturgis took a second look at his orders and whistled silently, "Not much of a time frame."

"No… so keep on with your priority cases and share the rest of your cases between Manetti and Roberts, and Sturgis, no matter your personal feelings towards Bud, try and maintain unbiased relations with him until you PCS. Your lack of enthusiasm at his promotion didn't go unnoticed, and the atmosphere between you is starting to affect the support staff."

"Mac, the man's a menace, he didn't deserve his promotion, it was only the Admiral's silver bullet that got it for him!"

"Sturgis, I'm going to say this to you only once, and then I'm going to forget that we had this conversation. Bud Roberts is a damn fine officer and a damn fine attorney. If he hadn't lost his leg, he'd have gotten those oak leaves last year!"

"He screwed the pooch, Mac, and damn' near my career with it!" Sturgis bristled with indignation.

Mac looked at him, and said levelly, "Sturgis, had you considered that perhaps if you hadn't screwed the pooch there wouldn't have been any need for a professional conduct review?"

That was too much for Turner. He got to his feet and said stiffly, "I have a lot of work to complete if I'm to be ready for my PCS. Permission to dismiss, ma'am?"

"Yes, dismissed, Commander!"

The sound of the door closing behind Turner was only just short of a slam, and Mac wearily shook her head, "That went well," she told herself ironically, and reached for the intercom.

"Coates, can you get me print-outs of the jackets for Lieutenant Commander Austin – she's at Pearl, and Major McBurney…"

"Austin and McBurney, aye, ma'am!" The lack of enthusiasm in Coates' voice was fairly obvious, and for a moment or two Mac wondered why, and then realised: McBurney had prosecuted Rabb, and had forced Coates into the most damning admission of the whole trial. Given Coates' hero-worship of Rabb, it was quite possible that she had come to dislike McBurney and it was more than possible that she would allow that dislike of McBurney to lead her into insubordination – she was outspoken enough with officers she liked and respected! So, perhaps it was in Coates' best interest that she be posted somewhere else if McBurney was to be posted to JAG. Mac allowed herself a small smile; it would be good to have another Marine attorney on the staff!

xx-xx-xx-xx-xx

Harm gently closed Faith Coleman's door behind him. That had been an uncomfortable ten minutes, not that Coleman had said anything, she had merely left her orders impeccably squared off in the middle of her blotter on her otherwise empty desk. In contrast to their previous conversation, Faith's manner on this occasion had been abrasive, and while her words had been entirely respectful, the tone in which she had spoken was only just this side of insubordinate.

Harm had once again gone over the reasons behind her PCS, and had told her that Captain Rattray at Norfolk was looking forward to gaining a member of staff with so much potential. And that had been no lie. Bill Rattray had been enthusiastic at the prospect of welcoming Faith Coleman to his command, and one of his greatest strengths had always been his ability to mentor and to bring out the best in his junior attorneys, and he was certain that Faith would benefit enormously from her tour under his guidance.

Faith Coleman had been entirely unimpressed and as far as Harm could tell entirely unconvinced, and had remained… hostile, yes, that was the word… throughout the interview. Harm sighed shook his head gently and crossed towards his own office door, asking as he passed Barker's desk, "Any messages?"

Barker picked up three or four pink message slips, "Yes, one from Commander Manetti asking that you call her on her cell 'phones – the number's there. One from Manassas Movers, they want you to confirm the timings for Friday. There's one from a Miss O'Neill. She wants to talk about the Cessna, and one from a Miss Grace, she says you need to make sure that you stop at an ATM on the way home, because you owe her thirty eight bucks and change."

Harm winced; he had made a special point of asking Mattie to pick both his and Catherine's dry cleaning, and had forgotten to leave her the cash to do so. Mattie must have dug into her fast-dwindling reserve of cash; he certainly must make sure he had sufficient cash on him for when he got home this evening.

"Thanks, Barker, anything else come in at all?" Harm said as he took the message slips from her.

"No, that's it sir," the petty officer replied cheerfully "Except…" she left the sentence hanging.

"Except?"

"Except your coffee's going cold, sir."

Harm grinned, "Thanks again, Barker!" he threw over his shoulder as he opened his office door. Moving around his desk he sat and then picked up the 'phone, dialling a well-known and long-familiar number.

"_JAG Ops, Legalman One Coates, speaking, how may I help you?"_

Harm managed to say "Hello, Jen this…" before Jennifer's squeal of ecstasy cut him off.

"_Oh my God, sir! It is you! How are, you is everything OK, where are you, we heard that you'd left the CIA, what are you doing…?_"

Harm was slightly taken aback by the mixture of pleasure and concern he heard in the young woman's voice, "Hey, hey, easy Jen, cool your jets a bit! I'm fine!"

"_Really, sir?" _Jen asked doubtfully_._

"Really, Jen. Everything's fine, everything's under control. I can't talk to you right now, I need to speak with Commander Roberts, but I promise, I'll tell you everything in a couple of days, max."

"_Do you promise, sir?"_

"I promise, Jen."

Jen heaved a silent sigh of relief,_ "That's good enough for me, sir. It's just I went by your place a couple of nights ago, and it was all dark. Your garage was locked, but there no sign of life… and I was a bit… worried."_

"I'll tell you all about it in a couple of days, Jen, but I really do need to speak to Commander Roberts."

"_Putting you through now, sir!"_

Harm waited through the series of clicks that were transmitted down the line until he heard the handset at the other end being picked up, "_Commander Roberts_."

"Hi Bud, it's Harm…"

"_Sir! Wow! That's great!"_ The line went dull and then Harm could hear a fainter version of Bud's voice calling "_Harriet – it's the commander_!"

And then everything went back to normal as Bud's voice came back onto the line loud and clear, "_This great, sir. Where are you? The last we saw or heard of you is when you landed that C-130 on the old Seahawk. Sir, we saw that, and I nearly died, Harriett nearly wet herself… Sir, we were all so proud of you…_"

Harm let go a dry chuckle, "Well the powers that be didn't think it was so wonderful Bud, that stunt got me fired."

Bud turned serious, "_Yeah, well that's their loss, sir. But… well… we're glad you're not working for the Company any more sir! How's the crop-dusting going, Sir?"_

"Well, that's finished for the year, Bud, I've got myself a little office job over in Arlington, but I didn't call to talk about myself. First off, congratulations on your half-ring."

"_Thank you, sir_," Bud said sombrely, "_but I wish it hadn't taken the Admiral's retirement to get it for me…_"

"Bud, no matter what it took, you deserve that ring… if it hadn't been for your leg, you'd have got your oak leaves long ago!" Harm paused for a reaction but Bud stayed silent. Harm mentally kicked himself; Bud had done so well overcoming his physical problems that it was too easy to forget how mention of his loss embarrassed him.

Awkwardly clearing his throat, Harm hastily continued, "Bud, do you remember Catherine Gale?"

"_Miss Gale_,_ the CIA attorney from the Angelshark case, sir? Sure, I remember her."_

"Bud… what I'm about to tell you can go no further… you can tell… no, you _must_ tell Harriet, but neither of you can breathe a word of this to another living soul; And Bud, I'm totally serious about this."

Bud nodded, and then realised that Harm couldn't see the gesture, "Got it, sir. Myself and Harriet only!" he tilted the phone a little away from his ear and beckoned Harriet closer so she too could hear.

"Catherine and I are buying a house in Vienna; we move in this weekend, our baby is due in six weeks…"

Bud and Harriet exchanged stunned looks, _"Co… congratulations… s… sir…"_ Bud stuttered, while Harriet's mouth opened in a soundless 'Oh' of surprise as she brought her hands up to her cheeks.

"But, Bud, that's not all…"

Bud looked helplessly at his wife, what on top of that bombshell, could the Commander do now he thought. He and Harriet were about to find out:

"Well you know I went crop dusting… my boss was a fourteen year old girl, whose mother had died in a car wreck and her father had skipped town. Well, I couldn't leave her on her own; she was barely surviving, so Catherine and I have applied for joint guardianship of her."

Bud was literally left floundering for words, and it was left to Harriet to pick up the ball and run with it, "_Umm… so I suppose more congratulations are in order, sir_?"

"I hope so, Harriet, but in great measure that's up to you and Bud!"

Harriet blinked in surprise, _"Us, sir? What do you mean?"_

"Well Social Services need a reference certifying mine and Catherine's suitability to be the legal guardians for Mattie, and… uh… I hope you don't mind, but I gave them yours and Bud's names."

"_Oh of course, sir! Anyone seeing you with little AJ would know instantly that you'll make a great parent!_"

"Thanks, Harriet. I mean that. Take care…"

"_Yes, sir. Uh… sir?_"

"Yes, Harriet?"

"_You're moving this weekend, you say?"_

"We are."

"_Then you must all come for lunch on Sunday…"_

"I don't know, Harriet, all the settling in and unpacking to do…"

"_Nonsense, sir, by the time Sunday lunch rolls around, you'll be ready for a break from all that stress… and you did say the baby's due soon… and you know that stress isn't good for mother or baby, don't you… and…_"

Harm couldn't prevent himself from chuckling, "Alright Harriet we'll be there, but on one condition…"

"_What's that, sir?"_

"Nobody else – and I mean nobody else – from Jag is to be there. If I drive up and see any cars other than your minivan, then I shall just drive on straight by. OK?"

Harriet's shoulders sagged, "_If you say so, sir_."

"I do, Harriet. I know you'd mean it for the best, but I do have my reasons for approaching things this way."

"_OK sir. We'll expect you at around twelve-thirty hours on Sunday_."

"_Fine, we'll see you then. Oh and Harriet_?"

"_Yes, sir_?"

"Thank you."

Harriet replaced the 'phone in its cradle and looked with wondering eyes at her husband. "Well, that was a bolt from the blue! Six months wondering where he was, worrying about what he was doing, and now…"

"I'm still wondering what he's doing," Bud frowned. "Did you notice that not once during that whole conversation did he tell either of us to stop calling him 'sir', and another thing, he knew about my promotion?"

Harriet's eyes became even wider, if that were possible, "Oh, Bud do you think…?"

"Sweetie, right now I'm not even sure that I know what I'm thinking. I certainly don't know anything about the Commander, but I do think I know a girl who might!"

"Bud… you're not making much sense, Bud, what girl?"

"Commander Manetti!" Bud said.

And then, his features becoming stern he stood and made for the door, ignoring Harriet's plaintive wail of "Bud!"

xx-xx-xx-xx-xx

Harm was ploughing through the most recent update to Thomas' 'The Carriage of Goods by Sea Under the Rotterdam Rule' when his phone rang.

"Rabb."

"_Hi sailor, you're still with us I see_." Penny Maybridge's voice held more than a hint of laughter,

"Yeah I guess so," Harm said ruefully, "but for how much longer?

"_Now that, is something you might just be about to find out! His highness wants to see you directly!_" Harm noted that the amusement in her voice had dissipated.

"Ah… this is the other shoe falling, is it?"

"_I don't know, Harm. All I know is that he wants to see you now!"_

"I'm on my way!"

Harm passed through the outer office, saying carelessly to Barker "I'm with the SecNav" as he passed her desk. Making his way along the hall he knocked lightly on Penny Maybridge's door and entered.

"Hi – he's waiting for you, go straight in." Penny gave him an encouraging smile and hoped that this wasn't the end of Commander Rabb's tenure. He was pleasant, polite easy to speak to and understanding of the civilian members of staff who couldn't quite grasp the difference between a Commander and a Corpsman.

In the meantime, the object of her admiration had crossed to the SecNav's office door, knocked, waited and entered when told to.

Secretary of the Navy Sheffield wasn't at his desk, but in one of the leather upholstered wing chair near his drinks cabinet. His suit jacket had been carelessly thrown across the back of the chair and was in imminent danger of being hopelessly crushed should Sheffield take it into his head to lean back. The SecNav held a shot glass carelessly in one hand, and with a casual wave, he invited Harm to take a seat opposite him.

"Can I get you one?" he invited, holding his shot glass up suggestively.

"No, thank you Mister Secretary, I have to drive home later."

"One of the perks of the job, Rabb, I get a driver." He looked sharply at Harm who realised that whatever front the SecNav put on, no matter how relaxed he might seem, the man was fully sober and fully alert.

"Now, Commander, I suppose we'd better get the unpleasant part of this interview over and done with. I have to reprimand you. You were cheeky to an Admiral – a retiring Admiral true, but still an Admiral. Consider yourself reprimanded – don't do it again, the next time could prove to be death sentence to your career! And that would be a shame; you have the potential to achieve higher rank than you now hold."

"No, Mister Secretary, if the temptation should again arise, I'll do my best not to succumb!"

"Good!" Sheffield grunted, "Now that's out of the way, I want to give a presentation tomorrow morning at nine fifteen on the future of JAG. Present will be admirals Tucker and Morris. Lieutenant Colonel MacKenzie and you. You will give a presentation on the manning plot as you explained it to me."

"Tomorrow morning, sir?" a startled Harm replied.

"Yes. Tomorrow morning. Is that a problem?"

"No sir, but by your leave, I need to make a start!"

"Alright Commander, carry on!"

"Aye, aye, sir!" Harm replied as he fled the office.

Bursting into the outer office that harboured Barker's work station he barely paused as he rapped out, "Barker – on my six, we've got a helluva lot of work to do in a very short time!"

A puzzled Legalman Two Barker followed him into his office, "Sir…" she began, only to be silenced by Harm's upraised hand as he spoke into his cell 'phone.

"Catherine, hi, it's me. I'm going to be late tonight, sweetheart. But I don't know just how late. You and Mattie should go ahead and eat without me. Just leave me something I can warm up in the oven. Maybe some of last night's moussaka? Oh, and don't wait up for me. And remember," he turned away from Barker so she couldn't see his face, "I love you. 'bye."

Closing the 'phone, he turned to the young woman, "Barker, did you have any plans for this evening?"

Barker had been hoping to settle down with a couple of her girlfriends, a pint of ice cream, a box of chocolates, a bowl of popcorn, a box of kleenex and a weepy movie, but sighed and said, "Nothing of any importance, sir."

"Right, sit down, please. First thing, get on to tech support, AV guys. I need a computer and a large screen monitor in the SecNav's small conference room. I want it set up, checked and running by oh eight thirty hours; secondly, that manning plot: I want every page of it copied into a slide presentation, and a further…" he thought rapidly "Six copies of it, presentation bound. While you're making a start on that, I'll be making some presentation notes."

xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx

Mac put down the file she hastily reading, it was bad enough having to try and speed read case files – that was the way minor but important facts and delicately nuanced clues got missed, but the constant barrage of telephone calls weren't aiding her concentration, either! How the hell had the Admiral coped for all those years? Then again the Admiral had had a reasonable number of staff, and half of the calls she taken today were for her in her capacity as chief of staff. There was one thing she was learning fast, being your own chief of staff was a major pain in the ass!

"Yes, Coates?" she snapped.

"Ma'am Captain Richardson from TSO Newport on line three for you."

Mac sighed, Captain Richardson hadn't been very optimistic when they'd spoken on Monday, but the fact that he was at least calling back gave her spirits a minor boost. Mentally preparing Cheerful Mac, she picked up the 'phone and pressed the three button.

"MacKenzie," she said brightly.

"_Colonel, good afternoon! This Niall Richardson from TSO Newport_."

"Good afternoon, sir. What can I do for you?"

"_It's the other way 'round Colonel. I'm sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, but I had to give a great deal of thought to your request for assistance. You realise that by sending someone TAD to Falls Church, I could very well be leaving myself short-handed?_"

"Yes, of course, sir." Meaning you'll be counting any help as favour to be called in when you decide, she thought bitterly. But after all, she was the JAG pro-tem, and AJ had warned her that politics – both real and office – would play a major role in her work.

"Well, having done some mental juggling, I find that I can loan you one Lieutenant Commander, but…"

Here it comes, thought Mac.

"_I have three of these Lieutenant Commanders; all have reasonable records at Special and General Courts Martial level, so it would be unfair of me to choose one arbitrarily. You understand that the two not selected might feel it as a slight – a TAD to Falls Church certainly won't harm their careers. And there is a secondary consideration; I wouldn't want any of them to lose contact with their cases down her at Newport."_

Mac was puzzled, where was he going with this?

"_I like to think that my solution is creative, simple and elegant. I'm prepared to release these three fine young officers to you on a monthly rotation. By the time each of them has rotated through, you should have made some sort of dent in your staffing problem, no?"_

"Yes, sir. That's very generous of you, thank you. When do you see the first TAD starting, sir?"

"_Well, I could send Lieutenant Commander Bramwell up to on Friday, which would give him the weekend to settle in; ready to report to you first thing Monday morning. I take it you can arrange accommodation?"_

"Yes, sir. I'll have my Yeoman make a block booking for three calendar months at the VOQ at Anacostia, sir, starting Friday evening. And sir, Thank you."

"_Don't worry about it Colonel, I'm glad to be able to help out!"_

Mac replaced the phone in its cradle and reached out for the next folder in her 'In Tray', and opening it she saw the two print-outs she had requested earlier, Lieutenant Commander Megan Austin and Major Jack McBurney. McBurney she remembered from last year, but it did no harm to give his history a quick once over. An impressive win/lose ratio, and she was pretty sure that if the charges hadn't been dropped against Rabb last year, he would have won that case too. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat; she had been pissed off with Rabb over his behind the scenes investigation into Singer's love life, but she had never for an instant – well, not seriously, anyway – considered that he might have been guilty. So why hadn't she stood up for him? That was an easy question to answer, she had been good little marine, obeying orders… but then again that excuse had been permanently discredited at Nuremburg. Giving herself a mental shake, she considered wryly that if the prospect of having Jack McBurney here affected her so much, it was a damn' good thing that Rabb hadn't come back to JAG. Dismissing, albeit subconsciously, the idea that if Rabb had come back to JAG, then McBurney's presence probably wouldn't have been necessary.

Looking at the other print-out, she ran her eyes down Megan Austin's service history and the words 'Falls Church' leaped off the page at her. Austin had been at Falls Church back in '95 and '96. Of course! Meg Austin Rabb's partner before she, Mac, had been posted in to replace her!

Now, this could be interesting; if she remembered the scuttlebutt from all those years ago, Meg Austin had been more than just a partner to Rabb… so his ex-whatever would now be working with the prosecutor who had tried to convict him of attempted murder. Yep, it was going to be an interesting winter, all right. Still she had managed to separate professional from personal, alright, the relationship with Mic had been a mistake, but they'd got over his tactics at her own court martial, so she could demand the same from Austin and McBurney if the situation threatened to get out of hand.

xx-xx-xx-xx-xx

Captain Niall Richardson laced his podgy fingers together over the swell of his stomach, fortunately the Dress Blues jacket hid a multitude of sins, but he was going to have to make a serious effort to lose weight and get back in shape before it was time for Summer Whites again. But for now, there was something more important to consider… He slid a bulky envelope across the surface of the desk towards the younger officer standing at Parade Rest in front of him, "Bramwell, fresh orders for you. Starting from Monday morning you are TAD for one calendar month to JAG HQ at Falls Church, Virginia. You are to travel on Friday; Arrangements have been made for you to occupy a room at VOQ Anacostia. While TAD you will be under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Sarah MacKenzie, Marine Corps, who are the acting JAG. All that is covered in your orders, of course. What is not in your orders, is that you will be my eyes and ears at Falls Church. JAG seems to be on a collision course with some very nasty rocks, I want to know what's going on, I want to know who is responsible, who is doing what to whom, and most importantly, I want to know the second before there is any word of whom the next JAG might be! Understood?"

Lieutenant Commander Bramwell drew himself up into a brace and with his face impassive, he barked "Aye, aye, Sir!"

"That's all Bramwell, carry on!"

"Sir!"

Richardson watched him leave. Bramwell hadn't fooled him in the slightest. Oh, Bramwell would do as he was ordered – Richardson had too much on him for him to be able to doubt that. But Richardson had also seen the hastily stilled flicker of disgust in the younger man's eyes at being given unofficial orders to spy on fellow officers. Richardson shrugged, the boy would have to grow up sometime.

xx-xx-xx-xx-xx

Mac slid another folder into her 'Out Tray', and consulted her inner clock. It was already sixteen thirty three hours, and the stack of files in her 'In Tray' didn't seem to have diminished in the slightest. She'd been tied to her desk since oh six thirty seven hours this morning, and apart from four or five cups of coffee that Coates had brought her, she hadn't moved, and as her growling stomach abruptly reminded her, not even for lunch.

Ordinarily with this much work left on her desk, she would work through until it was all cleared, but for some reason, today had been more than ordinarily tiring and she made the decision that she'd work through until seventeen hundred, go home, order in her favourite meat lover's pizza, have a soak in a hot bath and …

"Yes, Coates! What is it this time!"

"SecNav on line one, ma'am!"

Mac sighed, that was probably her plan for the evening going up in smoke… "MacKenzie."

"Colonel, this is Sheffield, I want to see you in my office tomorrow morning at nine a.m. Bring a clear head and an empty notebook!"

"Of course, Mister Secretary, I am to report to your office at oh nine hundred hours tomorrow!" Mac couldn't resist rephrasing his carelessly worded instructions into military format. Dammit, the man was the head of the navy; he could at least learn to speak the part, even if he'd never so much as spent a single day in uniform!

"Good! Goodbye Colonel!"

Mac replaced the handset, propped her elbows on the desk and bowing her head, ran her fingers through her hair and then reaching for the intercom she pressed the 'call' button.

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Coates, pass the word, Staff Call tomorrow is cancelled. I have to be at the Pentagon for oh nine hundred. If anybody needs me for anything urgent, I shall be in from oh seven hundred until oh eight fifteen. Got that?"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Thank you!" And the hell with seventeen hundred hours! If anybody calls in the next thirteen minutes then it's too damn bad! Grabbing her purse and cover, she closed her office door behind her and drew a breath, "Coates, I'm securing for the day – my stomach's telling me my throat's been cut!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"See you in the morning, Coates!"

"Goodnight ma'am!"

xx-xx-xx-xx-xx

"Well?" Harriet demanded as she buckled her seat-belt and Bud turned the key in their minivan's ignition.

"Well what?" He asked turning a surprised face towards his wife.

"What did she…" and seeing the question already forming on his face, she amended her own question. "Did you speak to Commander Manetti about the Commander, and if so, what did she say?"

"Oh, yeah, I talked to her alright," Bud admitted, his head craned back over his shoulder as he reversed the clumsy vehicle out of the parking bay.

"And what did she say?"

"She said that the Commander has a new job, here in Washington, is unlikely to go haring off on any adventures, and the last time she saw him he was well and happy."

"And?"

"And nothing," Bud said as he engaged the drive. "When I pushed for more details, she said that although I had clearance, I didn't have need to know!"

"But Bud, if he's in a classified job in Washington, he must be working for the government again! And if he didn't stop is from calling him 'sir', then maybe he's back in the navy?"

"Maybe, he is, but that's a pretty slim thread to hang your hopes on. Harriet honey, ninety per cent of the jobs in Washington involve working for the government, besides if he is working for the government at least he's still going to get his pension. And you know how worried we were about that for him!"

"H'mm… You know sweetheart, I could never figure that out, what was the Admiral thinking when he processed the Commander's resignation?"

Bud had spent long hours trying to solve the same question, but he wasn't about to get into that conversation with Harriet. "I guess we'll never know, sweetie!"

xx-xx-xx-xx-xx

It was gone twenty three hundred hours when Harm quietly entered the still, silent, darkened apartment. Toeing off his shoes just inside the door, he stripped off his uniform and hung it on the hanger left for that purpose on the coat rack, feeling that a crisply ironed shirt was already waiting for him for the morning.

Briefly he considered the idea of warming up whatever had been left for him in the oven, but then decided that he simply wasn't hungry, so crossing as quietly as he could to the bathroom, he stripped of his shirt and boxers and stepped under the shower. Quickly showered, he brushed his teeth and wrapping a towel around his hips, he switched off the bathroom light and opened the door to see a soft glow of light coming from the kitchen area.

Catherine stood at the stove, wrapped in his bathrobe, the electric kettle just coming to the boil and two mugs standing by. As he drew nearer, she poured the boiling water into the mugs and the scent of chamomile tea invaded his nostrils, and stepping close behind her he rested his hands gently on each side of her belly and leaning forward he used his nose to push her hair away from the point of her neck where it joined her shoulder and gently kissing and nibbling on it whispered, "Hi there beautiful, I thought I told you not to wait up?"

Catherine twisted in his arms to face him, and used her hand to pull his face down to hers to kiss him slowly and gently. "We did just as we were told sir, we were good little sailor girls, and we were both in bed over an hour ago!"

"So what are you doing up now?"

"I made a discovery," Catherine smiled up at him suddenly misty-eyed, "I discovered that I can't sleep if you're not in bed with me!"

Harm smiled and stepped back, leaning against the breakfast bar while Catherine facing him, leaned back against the work-top. Both cradled their mugs of tea and smiled at each other as they drank. Neither noticed the silently closing door to Mattie's room, as the teenager crawled back under her covers, her face crinkling in a satisfied goofy grin.


	21. Chapter 21

**21**

Given that she hated being dragged away from the office when everything was so busy Mac was in a surprisingly cheerful mood, well, she reflected, it surprised her anyway. In the couple of hours she'd been at her desk she had accomplished a fair amount of work, due she acknowledged, in no small part to the assistance provided by Jennifer Coates, who had also come in early and apparently for no other reason than to help Mac.

Now as she slotted her Corvette into once of the 'visitors' parking bays she realised that even with the hike across the acres of parking lot to the entrance, she had left herself plenty of time, so that she wouldn't appear hot and flustered on arrival at the SecNav's suite of offices.

Arriving at the CP, she signed in and receiving her Visitors' Badge pinned it carefully to the lapel of her Service Alphas, and turned to check her presentation in the full length mirror provided for that purpose.

Satisfied that other than a couple of creases across the front of her skirt that she was properly turned out, she turned to the Gunnery Sergeant at the CP desk, "Thank you Gunny, I don't need an escort," she smiled wryly, "I know the way!" Oh she knew the way, alright, just like she had known the way to the principal's office when she had been at High School, but why, oh why, whenever she received a summons to the SecNav's world did she feel just like that nervous and errant teenager. Especially when she had been summoned for an unknown reason!

Reaching the door to the SecNav's suite of offices, she opened it and stepped in to the rapidly becoming familiar ante-room, occupied as always by a single desk at which sat a Legalman Two, who leaped to her feet with a cheerful, "Good morning, ma'am! How may I help you?"

"'Morning Legalman Two, I'm Colonel MacKenzie; I have a zero nine fifteen with the SecNav."

"Of course, ma'am. It's to be in the small conference room. Do you know where that is, or would you like me to show you?"

"No, that's fine. It's just down the hall a few steps on the other side, right?"

"Yes ma'am, Admiral Tucker and Admiral Morris have already arrived, ma'am."

Mac stopped in her tracks, "Admiral Morris? Judge Morris?" she queried.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Thank you, Legalman," Mac said quietly as she left the office, her head spinning even faster than it had previously. What was Admiral Morris doing here, and who was Admiral Tucker? The only one she could think of was an SJA at NATO Headquarters in Belgium. Curiouser and curiouser. Arriving at her destination she took a breath, opened the door and stepped into the room.

The two senior officers, seated comfortably in leather upholstered chairs turned their heads as she entered and Mac froze into a brace, "Good morning, ma'am, sir!" she greeted them, hoping she'd got it the right way round, and breathed a sigh of relief when they both rose to greet her. The female Officer did indeed have the one ring above the broad band on her cuff, which marked her as a two-star admiral, outranking Admiral Morris, but what was even more interesting was the mill-rinde she wore above her rings. This must be Rear Admiral Amanda Tucker, and if so she was a long way from her duty station.

Amanda Tucker made a brief visual inspection of the Marine Lieutenant Colonel in front of her. She was very young to hold such rank, so she must have received accelerated promotion at some stage. Still youth wasn't always the handicap that some senior officers seemed to think it was, but then again neither was it always a positive advantage.

"Good morning, Colonel, it's good to meet you at last,"

Mac swallowed and replied, "Thank you ma'am," as the realisation dawned that she was probably addressing the next JAG.

"It's alright Colonel relax a touch, I won't bite you – well not this morning anyway!"

Judge Morris chimed in, "There's tea and coffee on the table behind you Colonel. I know it's probably not up to your high standards, but that makes it drinkable for us mere mortals!" His warm smile took any offense out of his words.

Mac smiled back at him gratefully, "I think I will indulge myself!" Mac poured herself a cup of coffee and carried it carefully to where the two senior officers sat, choosing to sit on Admiral Morris' left, keeping him between herself and Admiral Tucker.

The next few minutes were spent in idle conversation, pointedly steered away from professional matters by Admiral Tucker, whenever they veered too close to that subject, until the door behind them opened and a voice called out, "Attention on deck!"

Mac almost failed to make it to her feet as her heart seemed to lurch within her chest. There could only be one man in the world with that voice, and as she turned towards the door she saw his familiar figure, a rear view as he closed the door behind Secretary Sheffield. So struck was she by the unexpected appearance of Harmon Rabb in this place that she almost missed the SecNav's, "Sit down, everyone, please!"

Mac was vaguely aware that Harm had taken a seat on the other side of Admiral Tucker, next to a PC that sat on a baize mat on top of the highly polished cherry-wood conference table, and scanning the room properly for the first time since she'd entered it, she saw the projector screen set up at the end of the table, easily visible to the group as they now sat.

Secretary Sheffield took his chair and dragged it around so that he was almost at ninety degrees to the other three, and began to speak, but Mac's head was so full of questions about Harm's presence here, and in uniform, that she nearly missed what the SecNav was saying, and pushing the matter of Ham's presence to the back of her mind she concentrated on what her political superior had to say, But even as she made that resolution she promised herself that she and Rabb were going to have a long conversation about his…. His deceit… She snapped back to the here and now as Sheffield spoke.

"… Perhaps it was due to his early training as a Seal, but Admiral Chegwidden liked to keep in control of every aspect of the functioning of JAG, and felt that he didn't need a staff, and indeed under his leadership and tutelage, the JAG office at Falls Church has produced some very fine investigators and attorneys. However A J's approach was slightly… piratical, and his penchant for… micro-managing things meant that when he began to feel the strain of his office last year, things at Falls Church started to go to hell very quickly. This is by no means intended to denigrate the good, valuable work that Admiral Chegwidden did, nor is it meant to denigrate the excellent results he achieved. When he came to me and stated his intention to retire, he reminded me that he had been in office for twice as long as any of his immediate predecessors and he felt the need to stand down in the interests of his health; I tried to persuade him otherwise, but in the end, and regretfully, I was compelled to agree with him."

Sheffield took a mouthful of coffee and swallowed it before he continued. "Now, what we are about to discuss today is classified and must not be talked about outside of this room. In common with the Secretaries of the Army and Air Force I have approached the Joint Chiefs with a project to standardise the structure and training of our respective JAG Corps – as far as it is possible – amongst the three major services. This hadn't worked out quite as I'd hoped, as the Commandant Marine Corps has opted to retain a separate Judge Advocate Division, which although still subject to the Navy JAG will continue to operate as it has done since its formation. Now, on the subject of the Navy JAG, I am sure Admiral Morris and Colonel MacKenzie that you are… ah… intrigued by the presence of Admiral Tucker. Let me put you out of your misery. Admiral Tucker has been nominated for appointment as the new Judge Advocate general of the US Navy. She has the nomination of the Commander in Chief, and her ratification by the Senate is expected by the end of the working week, that is by tomorrow's taps." Having seen Admiral Morris' and Mac's reaction to that piece of news, Sheffield dropped his big bomb, "Once Admiral Tucker's appointment is confirmed, she will receive her third star. This will bring the Navy JAG into line with the Army and the Air Force."

Sheffield stopped for a further mouthful of coffee, "To further bring the Navy into line with the other two services, the billet of Deputy JAG, which I understand has been gapped, since 1991 will be filled. That billet is a two star billet. And before you ask, there have been no nominations yet made for that billet. However, below the Deputy Jag there will be four Assistant JAGs, or AJAGs. You, Admiral Morris will be one of them, remaining in command of all Navy and USMC Judges. There will also be various staff appointment made, and I understand, Colonel that the highest ranking enlisted man or woman at Falls Church is a Petty Officer First Class?"

When Mac nodded her head, "Yes, Mister Secretary", Sheffield smiled.

"That is hardly a satisfactory state of affairs, and while the Petty Officers currently at Falls Church are doing a magnificent job, and I hope they will continue to do so, a Three Star Admiral needs a senior enlisted man or woman who can temper some of that youthful fire and enthusiasm with wisdom and experience. To that end, I am creating a billet for a Command Master Chief Petty Officer, who will report directly to the JAG as well as fulfilling his or her usual roles in guiding and counselling junior ranks…" Sheffield broke off as Mac raised her head, her intent to ask a question obvious in her expression.

"Yes, Colonel?"

"Mister Secretary, while I am excited by the scale of the re-vamp you describe, I can foresee one slight problem – and that is office space. We already have a Commander using an old broom closet for an office, and while the DJAG's office is still in situ at Falls Church, it has been used as an archive space…"

"I see. Well, that brings us on to the second half of my plans, but…" he looked at his watch, "I don't want to talk myself hoarse, so we'll let Commander Rabb give us his solution to some manning problems that have recently arisen. As you all know, Commander Lindsey raised a report on the efficiency or other wise of JAG HQ, and although it was proved that his report was biased and took the worst possible view of any given situation, both Secretary Nelson and myself, as did AJ Chegwidden, come to agree that one aspect of his report was accurate. Too many staff at JAG, and in JAG billets throughout the world, had been in those billets for far too long. While this may have been agreeable to those occupying billets in Pearl, or Naples, things weren't quite so comfortable for those in shipboard billets, some of whom I have just discovered have been in those same billets for five years! I am also informed that this situation was partially responsible for the lack of younger attorneys coming up through the ranks, as the demands of personal and professional lives clashed. Many promising young officers have opted to leave the navy the minute their obligatory service was up to re-join their wives and children. I have here a copy of one such letter from a Lieutenant… ah… shall we say 'X'. He has been a JAG for eight years. He has been billeted on the same aircraft carrier for five of those eight years. For four of those five years he has been married. During those four years he has spent a total of seven months with his wife and child. Not a glowing advertisement for life in the navy is it? And of course, for those committed career officers, it does their prospects no good to be stuck in the same billet year after year having little if any chance to prove their administrative and command skills. To combat this sort of situation, Commander Rabb has put together a report with recommendations. Both of which I fully support. Commander Rabb, please:"

Harm rose to his feet and handed a presentation folder to each of the other officers and then clicked the computer mouse that caused the viewing screen to light up with the words, 'Future Manning Policy – JAG'. "Good morning, ma'am, sir, Colonel. I shall try and make this as brief as I can, as I'm sure you're all aware that there is nothing quite so dry, dull and boring as ploughing through wave after wave of statistics. I hope you'll appreciate that in the interests of clarity and brevity that the information on screen is distilled from that contained in the folders. I can assure you that although the pages look different, the figures remain the same. Now," he clicked the mouse and the next screen came into view, "In order to get this process moving, it was necessary to do some quick and dirty work, so all Jag designator officers were included in a list, and were then sorted by date of accession to their billets. For convenience sake, all those who had been afloat or in 'hardship' billets for four years or more were marked up as being in 'Tranche 1'; those who had been in more salubrious surroundings for the same length of time were placed in Tranche 2. Then those in both sorts of billets for periods of up to four years in Tranche 3, and finally those who remain in Tranche 4. You will all see your names in or another of the four lists. The priority was to shift those in Tranche 1 into more congenial billets in the shortest possible time. To that end every officer in Tranche 1 has been sent an invitation to apply for any billet in Tranche 2 and vice versa. It is the intention of this office that orders be cut for these officers and that all billets shall have been re-assigned and filled by March 1st next year. Once that has been done as a matter of urgency, then the less urgent business of re-assigning those officers in Tranches 3 and 4 may begin. But to avoid this situation ever recurring, a policy document is being prepared over the Secretary's signature. This policy document will lay down the progression that an officer can expect to see reflected in his own career. The two most relevant points are that no billet will exceed four years in length, and no officer will be expected to serve consecutive tours aboard ship. Subject as always to the needs of the service."

Admiral Tucker thought for a few moments and then turning to Sheffield asked, "May I?"

"Please do, Admiral."

"Commander, these wholesale moves are going to throw JAG into chaos for some time, are they not?"

"It appears that way, ma'am, but by judicious tweaking of dates we think we can cut down the disruption to an acceptable level."

"Ah… Admiral, if I may?" the SecNav interrupted, "In view of the second half of my presentation, I can assure you of two things, the disruption will be minor, and this policy will be implemented."

"Very well, Mister Secretary."

Sheffield smiled, "Good! Now are there any further questions for the commander? No? Very well. Thank you for your work and Time, Commander Rabb, you may return to your normal duties!"

"Aye, aye, Mister Secretary!"

As he closed the door behind him, he could just hear Secretary Sheffield's voice, "As to your concerns about space at Falls Church, Colonel. JAG HQ will be moving to the Navy Yard. However, Falls Church will remain as part of JAG and will function as a Trials Service Office, thus separating the operational from the administrative. And it will be an office, Colonel, which you will command!"

Harm nodded in satisfaction as he returned to the Legal Advisors' suite, and tossing a careless grin at Barker, he asked, "How about some of your excellent coffee, Barker? Ah…" he stopped in mid-stride. "Did you happen to see a Lieutenant Colonel of Marines earlier?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Good. Well, when the Secretary has finished his briefing, I expect her to come looking for me. When she erupts… uh… when she arrives, just buzz me and send her in, please, oh, and once she's in give her five minutes and then bring in fresh coffee for us both please!"

"Aye, aye, sir!"

Barker watched him disappear into his own office and sat back with a smile on her lips. That was an unexpected turn of events, he wanted Barker to rescue him from the clutches of the Marine officer. Mind you, that was probably only a sensible precaution, all marines were crazy-mad, after all, and somehow she didn't think the marine Colonel was the woman he'd told he loved her over his cell 'phone last night. Barker gave herself another mental shake, and guiltily glanced across at Commander Coleman's office door. It seemed that every time she goofed off recently, the acid-tongued Lieutenant Commander was there to see it! So, coffee for the Commander!

Harm figured he had about forty, maybe forty-five minutes before the SecNav finished his lecture on the future shape of JAG and Mac came bursting back into his life, no doubt riding a wave of self-righteous anger and indignation. He had to decide now how he was going to play this encounter. The last thing he needed was a marine-green version of a fishwife screeching insults at him at the top of her voice, that would do neither of them any good in the career stakes, and having, by a miracle, just had his restored to him, he wasn't inclined to risk losing it again just because Sarah MacKenzie had gotten her panties in a wad. Yes, he'd seen the flash of anger in her eyes when she'd first seen him and could almost see the hostility sparking off her, almost as if she was discharging static electricity. No, whatever emotion Mac might have had at the front of her mind, it certainly wasn't forgiveness or love of her fellow man. Shaking his head, he reached for the top file on the stack that Barker had loaded his In Tray with while he was at the SecNav's briefing, and looked at the folio flagged for his attention. As he read it through, he groaned, surely this couldn't be happening in this day and age. The USA was fighting two wars now, one in Afghanistan and the second in Iraq. Now the international community – whatever that was – was upbraiding the USA for warmongering on the one hand, and now, on the other hand was screaming to that same USA for help in keeping certain, highly profitable sea lanes clear of pirates! Of course there had been stories of piracy in the waters around Indonesia for years, but it now appeared that Somali gunmen were getting in of the act. Sortieing out in small, fast boats they were boarding merchant ships – generally cargo rather than passenger vessels and holding ship and crew to ransom.

It appeared from the complaint in front of him that a party of these enterprising gentlemen had mistaken a USNS fast transport ship as a merchant ship, had turned to attack it and had come under fire from the ship's 50 calibre machine guns. Three of the four Somali boats had been sunk, and there had undoubtedly been casualties among the Somali pirates. But, apparently a Norwegian ship had been in the area, and the ship's master had lodged a complaint against the _USNS Charles T Grant_, for use of excessive force. Harm groaned and shook his head, it often appeared that the USA, whatever course of action it took, was damned if it did and damned if it didn't. Harm didn't expect anything to come of this complaint, but he would have to write to the _Grant'_s master and ask for copies of the relevant log-books for the time of the incident.

Shaking his head, he turned to his computer and selected the word processing programme, but before he could even start to mentally compose the message his desk 'phone rang. With an irritable grunt, he picked up the handset, "Yes, Barker?"

"There's a Miss Grace on the line for you sir!" There was a click in the earpiece and then Mattie's voice.

"_Hello?"_

"Hey, Mattie, what's up, are you OK?"

"_Yeah, I'm fine, I just… I just wanted to hear your voice, I guess…_" Mattie sounded so uncertain, so unlike her usual brash, confident self.

"C'mon, squirt, give. What's bugging you?"

Mattie gave a little sniffle, _"I… I'm… I'm not sure, it's just that I'm sat here on my own today, and now everything's packed it's kinda creepy… It's not that I'm scared, or anything_," she said defiantly, "_it's just that it's…. I dunno… sad, maybe? So I thought if I could talk to you for a couple of minutes I'd feel better_."

"And do you?"

"_Yeah, I guess…"_

Harm became aware of raised voices, or at least one raised voice in the outer office, "Listen, Mats, I gotta go, I have a feeling that an unwelcome visitor is about to burst through my door any second now…"

Scarcely had he spoken when his door flew open and Mac, in full storm the beach mode, strode into his office, her face pale, except for two scarlet temper patches high on her cheekbones.

Harm held up a minatory finger towards the now silently fuming Marine, as he spoke into the mouthpiece, "OK, then sweetheart. I'll see you at home this evening. Oh, and remember, I love you."

"_I love you too, Harm,"_ Mattie breathed into her 'phone, "_'bye_."

Harm put the phone back in its cradle and sat back in his chair, "Given up knocking on doors in general, Mac, or are you making an exception just for me?"

"You! You lying deceitful, cowardly, dishonest, untrustworthy… rat!"

"Good morning to you too, Colonel," Harm replied blandly, "Why don't you take a seat, and then you can tell me what's got you so all worked up?"

Rather than accept his invitation, Mac crossed here arms in front of her and started to pace the width of his office, "What's got me worked up? You've got me worked up!"

"Why? Or rather, how, have I gotten you worked up?"

"You disappear off the face of the earth, you don't call anyone, you don't return any calls. I stop by your apartment, and it's been gutted, I didn't… nobody knew where you were, or how you were or whether you were still alive!"

"That's not strictly true, Mac. I've been in regular contact with little AJ, and if you'd cared to ask Bud or Harriett, they could have told you that I was calling our godson. And that raises a point. AJ's never managed to keep a secret from either of us, so if you had bothered to talk to him, he would have told you that I called him at least once a week! And that," he added dryly, "seems to be more than you've managed."

Mac at least had the grace to blush, but then drew a deep breath, "Alright, so you kept in touch with AJ, and through him with the Roberts. But you haven't made the slightest effort to get hold of anyone else!"

Harm shrugged and settled further back in his chair, "And why should I, Mac? JAG is a part of my past life. You see, I'm capable of learning a lesson and moving on, getting on with what's left of my life."

"What do you mean by that?" Mac shot back at him as she eventually stopped pacing and practically threw herself into a chair.

Harm was given the opportunity to pre-think his answer as they both fell silent while a knock at the door announced the arrival of Barker with a tray of coffee, cream, sugar and two cups. At least a couple of minutes passed before she silently effaced herself and returned to her desk.

"Do you want to help yourself, Mac, or shall I pour for you?"

"What? No… I don't want any coffee." Mac had tried for dignified refusal but merely managed sulky child, so that Harm wouldn't have been surprised to hear a "so there!" tacked on to the end of her refusal.

Harm nodded in seeming acceptance, but nevertheless poured her a cup of coffee and slid it across the desk towards her.

"So… what can I do for you, Mac?"

"You could explain yourself!" she snapped.

"Let's leave aside, for the moment, the question of whether or not I need to explain anything to you. What aspect of my being do you need explained? I thought I made my feelings pretty clear a couple of months ago when you paid me a visit – unannounced of course – at my old apartment..."

Mac absent-mindedly stretched out a hand and snagged the sugar bowl, heaping a couple of teaspoon of the soft brown sugar into her cup and idly stirring it.

"Yes, you did! And that's what makes all this…" she waved an arm at the plush furnishings of his office, "so inexplicable!"

Harm steepled his fingers and cocked an eyebrow at her, noting that despite her refusal of a drink, she had picked up her coffee cup and taken a good sip of its contents. "How so, inexplicable?" he asked.

"You said you wouldn't come grovelling for your job back, and that you'd never serve in the Navy again!" she accused him hotly.

"No," Harm disagreed quietly, "that's not what I said. Not quite. I said I would never go grovelling back to JAG, and that I would never serve under Chegwidden again!"

"So, what are you doing here?"

"Well, firstly, I would have been a greater than usual fool – even by my standards – to turn down the opportunity to keep my pension. And it was offered to me Mac. Twice in fact. Once by Chegwidden and I turned him down flat, and then SecNav made me the offer of coming to work here for him as his senior legal advisor."

"And was the Admiral's retirement part of the price SecNav had to pay to get you back in the navy?" Mac sneered, "God… your hypocrisy!"

Harm bit his tongue, he was determined not to lose control of this conversation and let it degenerate into a shouting match. "No, I merely told SecNav that I would be quite happy to return to the navy…"

"I bet!" Mac huffed.

Harm continued, unruffled by her interruption, "provided that I could stay in the DC area for three years, and that I wouldn't have to serve under Chegwidden's orders – that by the way was when I found out that he had submitted his retirement letter – and that I wouldn't be returned to Falls Church."

Mac's curiosity got the better of her, "OK, I can understand you not wanting to work for Admiral Chegwidden again, he _was_ pretty brutal to you, but why not come back to JAG, especially as he's gone now…"

"But you're still there, Mac" Harm replied gently.

Mac stared at him in perplexity for some moments and then as what he'd just said sunk into her consciousness she went pale with shock. "Well, you can certainly explain that, if you please!" she said pettishly.

"It's simple Mac, for years I was in love with you, or thought I was, which for all intents and purposes is the same thing, until you tore my heart out with that 'never…."

"But, Harm…"

"No, Mac, we're not going to have that conversation again, except to say that you made your choice and you chose Webb. Now, I hope you'll be happy with him, really, I do. But you almost broke my heart when you decided you were in love with Dalton, and then you nearly tore it out of my chest when you decided to marry Brumby. And I just couldn't face the idea of seeing you every day, gushing over Webb. But that was only part of the reason Mac. Despite all our fights over the years, we somehow managed to stay friends, but this fight was different… it left us with open wounds, and daily contact would, I think, have kept those wounds fresh and bleeding. If we are ever to get our friendship back, then we have got give those wounds time to scab over and heal. We'll be left with the scars, sure, but they won't hurt so much. So maybe, in time, six months, or a year down the road, we'll be able to meet up for a pizza, or a coffee without wanting to rip each other a new six. And talking about coffee, can I offer you a refill?"

"Huh? What?" Mac was thrown off balance by the offer, and looked in bewilderment at her empty cup, "Uh… no… no thank you." and struggling to gain some sort of control over the conversation, which in the face of Harm's non-confrontational responses was not going the way she'd envisaged when she'd stormed into his office, she returned to the attack, "So now you're here, trying to fill Lindsey's boots, by carrying out his little designs to have the team at Falls Church split up!"

"No… Webb managed that. And I'm not saying it was a bad thing. Lindsey was right, we even half agreed on that before the Singer trial came up; a number of us had been at Falls Church far too long, we must all take some degree of blame for that, by not getting our detailers and monitors to kick our sixes elsewhere, we were in his phrase, 'far too comfortable', and Chegwidden must take some of the blame for that too. He has been, at the least derelict in his duty, in not acting to further the best career prospects of his officers. Had he done so, you might have been back doing a line tour with a Corps unit – and can you imagine Webb approaching some crusty two star Marine and asking for you to go off and play house with him? I might be in an SJA appointment somewhere, or even as a Fleet JAG. Chegwidden could still be sitting in the Big Chair. But by keeping us all together as a team – and we made a pretty good one – Chegwidden made us all vulnerable, and when Webb's Paraguay scheme imploded we were all left exposed. I'd talked myself out of a career, Chegwidden had lost the confidence of his troops, you'd been left exposed – you do realise that every decision you make, and have made since taking over pro-tem, has been and is being scrutinised by SecNav? So, no, I'm not carrying some petty little scheme of revenge as you insinuated, I'm actually trying to get my friends out from under the SecNav's microscope."

Mac had become thoughtful as Harm spoke, "So you don't bear anyone any grudges? Not me, not the Admiral?"

"No, the only grudge I bear is towards Webb – and that is because he recklessly put you at unnecessary risk!"

"But he saved me from being tortured!" Mac replied.

"No, no he didn't. Think about it for a moment, Mac. No matter what you or Webb decided about who was going to take what turn on that torture table, all the power to decide that lay with one person, and that wasn't you and it wasn't Webb. It was Sadik Fahd. He was the man with the gun and the keys; he held all the power and could have overturned your 'decisions' at any given moment for any given reason, or even just on a whim. For some reason Sadik chose to concentrate his efforts on Webb. Now, I hope that Webb has made a full recovery; you may tell him I said that, and you can also tell him to stay the hell out of my way. The next time I see Webb, I shall take great pleasure in knocking him on his ass. And the next time I see him after that, I shall take even greater pleasure in repeating the performance."

"Oh! You're impossible! What have you got against Webb?"

Harm shrugged, "I told you, he recklessly put you at unnecessary risk."

Mac got to her feet and looked around for her purse and cover, which she had thrown onto a side-table during her pacing to and fro phase. "There are times Harmon Rabb, when I just don't understand you!"

"The feeling is mutual, Mac," he agreed sadly, "and that is probably a good enough reason for us never getting to be anything other than close friends, no matter how much we may or may not have wanted it."

"So…" Mac looked at him thoughtfully, "this is goodbye, I take it?"

"I hope not, marine," he said with a sad smile, "but it's certainly 'so long' for now. But you know where I am now, and I'll give you a call from time to time. Maybe in six months or so, we can meet for that pizza."

Mac nodded, "In that case, so long, Squid, and good luck."

"Yeah, see you around, Jarhead, and Sarah? – be happy"

Mac gave him a formal little smile, a little twisted, and a final inclination of her head before she stepped through the doorway into the outer office.

Harm sat for many minutes staring at the door after it had closed behind Sarah MacKenzie, for some reason he felt depressed. Despite their parting words he knew that the chances of Sarah MacKenzie and Harmon Rabb ever being able to sit down together again and share a pizza, a cup of coffee, or even a joke were at the very best remote, and that today had very probably seen the final dissolution of what had once been a strong and successful friendship."

A soft tap at the door dragged from the depths of his introspection and on his uttering the command, "Enter" Barker came into the office, "I've just come to clear the coffee, sir," she announced cheerfully, and spent a few seconds gathering up the crockery. The tray loaded, she hesitated, "Sir, that was Colonel MacKenzie, right?"

"Yes, why… Oh. No, she's not always like that Barker, most enlisted ranks reckon she's a good officer to work for… it's just that she and I have an uncanny ability to press each other's buttons. We've worked together for so many years that sometimes we just can't help ourselves. No, you'll be alright at Falls Church." And Harm made a promise to himself to enlist the help of Bud Roberts and Harriet Sims to ensure that Barker was alright once she got to Falls Church.

Barker gave him a flash of her generous smile, "Thank you, sir!"

"There's just one more thing, Barker…"

"Sir?"

"A reminder that I'm going to be out of the office all day tomorrow."

Barker nodded, "Yes, sir, your calendar is clear, although while the Colonel was here I took a message from a Commander Bellingham, she wants to make an appointment to see you on Monday. She did want to see you tomorrow, but…"

"Fine, thank you Barker, dismissed!"

"Aye, aye, sir!" the young woman replied, again with a flash of her smile.

xxi-xxi-xxi-xxi-xxi

Legalman Two Barker hurried the tray of dirty cups away into the kitchen cubby hole and rinsed them under the tap. So… that was Lieutenant Colonel MacKenzie, eh? Commander Rabb's old partner, who just knew how to push his buttons. Yeah, right. Barker may not have been on this earth for a quarter of century yet, but she could read the signs, there had been a look about MacKenzie when Barker had appeared with the coffee that spoke volumes to every female within ten miles. It was a look that said, hands off – this is my man!

But… MacKenzie had looked different when she'd left, older somehow and… sadder. Certainly the volume of the talks had lessened after the coffee had been produced, almost as if MacKenzie had gone in spoiling for a fight – which in Barker's opinion she definitely had - and had lost, badly; or perhaps she'd found there wasn't a fight to be had.

Barker pondered as she dried the last of the flatware, Colonel MacKenzie didn't seem to be the type that the Commander would call 'sweetheart' on the 'phone, and she certainly wasn't the 'Miss Grace' that had put a lilt in his voice or a bounce in his step earlier… so perhaps Colonel MacKenzie had been replaced by the mysterious Miss Grace… although, and here Barker grimaced in dismay, the girl did sound very young…

xxi-xxi-xxi-xxi-xxi

Mac returned to Falls Church still in a sombre frame of mind, and just a little bit confused by her own feelings. She had been angry that Harm had slipped back into the navy without so much as creating a ripple, but at the same time relieved that he was out of the clutches of the CIA, and safe behind a desk. What little she had gleaned from her own sources at Langley during his six month flying tour with 'The Company' had not allowed her many sound night's sleep. So, after the SecNav's briefing – and there still many ramifications to be thought through from that, she had gone in search of Harmon Rabb, determined to rip his head off and then crap down the hole. But he had turned away every attempt on her part to escalate their discussion into a fight. He had blanked her and stonewalled her, and had, in effect shown her the same cool indifference he had displayed the evening she had almost interrupted his dinner with Catherine Gale. Damn him! He hadn't even made a single snarky remark about her relationship with Clayton Webb, and then he had quite calmly imposed a moratorium on their friendship, but somehow it felt more like a_ quietus, _and somewhere deep down inside she was beginning to feel pain. What she didn't know was it was the same sort of pain that Harm had felt when he saw her kissing Webb.

Shaking her head to try and dispel the sadness that threatened to overwhelm her, Mac waved off the bull-pen inhabitants' leap to their feet in response to the cry of attention on deck, and strode, head up, every inch the kick-ass marine, into Coates' ante-office and then into the comfort of her own office and the Big Chair.

Coates had followed her in, a sheaf of pink message slips in her hand. Mac looked up at her and asked, "Anything urged there, Coates?"

Coates pulled the corners of her mouth down, and grimaced. "No, ma'am, all routine, 'X called, please call back' sort of stuff."

The younger woman paused for a second before plunging in, "Are you alright, ma'am, you look kinda… drained?"

"A tough morning Coates," Mac managed a weak smile, "but I did learn one thing that might help make your day…" she paused a moment, and then forced a smile onto her face, "It seems that you'll be working for Commander Rabb when you report to your new billet on Monday morning."

Mac had expected Coates to show some sign of pleasure at the news, but she was totally unprepared for the sheer brilliance of the younger woman's smile, a brilliance that only made her more strongly aware of how much had gone wrong at Falls Church over the last year. She hadn't, she realised, seen Coates smile quite like that since the news of Lieutenant Singer's death had broken.

"But please keep that information to yourself for the moment, Coates. I'll make a general announcement of the Commander's return to active duty status at tomorrow's staff call."

"Aye, aye, ma'am!" Jennifer replied enthusiastically.

"OK then, Coates, dismissed!"

"Aye, aye, ma'am!"

xxi-xxi-xxi-xxi-xxi

Harm had spent the afternoon re-reading the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, a convention signed by over one hundred and fifty sovereign states aimed at stamping out piracy. The trouble was, 'Piracy' could only be committed on the high seas that are outside any country's claimed littoral waters – usually extending twelve miles from shore. Aggressive acts aimed at shipping within the twelve mile limit were not 'piracy' per se, but were deemed to be 'piratical acts', and the ways in which a ship's master was permitted to react to a threat were governed by whether he was faced by a piratical act or an act of piracy. The ship's master being permitted a greater freedom of action when faced with the latter.

In the meantime, a non-committal acknowledgement of the Norwegian master's complaint must be drafted and sent, with copies to the Norwegian Defence Attaché, another Rear Admiral, as well as keeping Secretary Sheffield in the loop, and through him the CNO. At length a draft letter of acknowledgement in his hand, Harm picked up the 'phone and dialled.

"Hello, Penny?"

"_Hi, Sailor, what can I do for you today?"_

"I need to speak with the Secretary before we close down for the day… it's quite important. And as I'm not in the office tomorrow…" Harm put just the edge of pleading into his voice.

"_Leave it with me, Sailor; I'll see what I can do!"_

"Thanks, Penny, I owe you one!"

"_One? Just one? And don't you worry, I'll collect!"_

"I'm sure you will!" Harm laughed.

xxi-xxi-xxi-xxi-xxi

Harm closed the apartment door behind him and leaned back against it, feeling totally drained, and managed a tired, "Hi Catherine, hi Mattie. No! Stay where you are sweetheart, I'll come to you," he told her as Catherine started to make the effort to get up from the couch.

Mattie in the meantime had uncoiled her legs from under her and stood saying wisely, "Now there's a man who looks like he needs a drink! Tea?"

"Yeah, please," Harm replied, bending to kiss Catherine gently on the lips. "And while you're boiling the kettle, I'll just slip into something a little more comfortable - What?" Harm demanded as Catherine giggled.

"Oh, it's just that line; every time you say it; I have this vision of you coming into the room in a short, see-through baby-doll nightie and a lacy peignoir!"

Harm grinned through his fatigue, "Well I'll try not to disappoint you one of these fine days!"

Mattie who had been listening in growing disbelief, shook her head in despair, "You two are really, really, weird," she told them, "You definitely need to get some therapy before you scar me for life!"

"The thing is though, Squirt, I don't recall us being so weird before you came to stay with us, isn't that right, sweetheart?" Harm turned to Catherine for support, but before she could say anything, Mattie grinned and struck back.

"Oh no, you're not laying that at my door! You were weird long before I got here, I reckon. It's just that you had no one normal around to point it out for you!"

Both Harm and Catherine laughed and Harm stood from where he'd sat on the arm of the couch and crossing to the kitchen area, he took Mattie in a light hug and kissed the top of her head, "You might just have something there, Kiddo!"

"Damn straight I do!" she teased him, her eyes alight with laughter and daring him to pull her up over her language.

But on this occasion Harm just laughed and retreated to the bedroom in order to change out of uniform before dinner. The meal, which consisted of almond baked trout, new potatoes and broccoli was quickly consumed, and the washing up quickly completed. The now washed and dried dishes being packed in the last open movers' box.

Mattie looked around the stripped kitchen area. All that was left was the kettle, three mugs, the tea and a teaspoon. "Uh, Harm, what are we doing about breakfast?" Mattie indicated the barren expanse of work top and the empty cabinets.

"Well, I reckon we consider tomorrow a special occasion… so… I thought we might make it to iHop for breakfast?"

"Damn straight!" Mattie enthused.

This time, Harm and Catherine both caught her, "Mattie!" they chorused in protest.

"Sorry!" The teenager smiled, with not a trace of remorse in her face, voice or bearing.


	22. Chapter 22

**22**

Harm was slightly distracted. The battered old leather couch that had, over the years, inflicted so much torment on his back was supposed to have stayed in the old loft apartment, yet here it was, catty cornered to the three seat modern couch that made up part of Catherine's living room suite. But what was concerning him more at the moment was the sight of Mattie, curled up in the corner of the old couch and trying unsuccessfully to smother a gargantuan yawn.

"Why don't you head of to bed, Mats?" he suggested gently, "We've all had a long, hard day, and tomorrow's not going to be much easier!"

"Can't," the teenager grumbled in reply, although she was by now knuckling her eyes, "You'll need a hand with all this cra… uh… rubbish," she indicated the wreckage of the Chinese order-in that strewed the mover's box that had done temporary duty as a table, "Besides, it's not even nine yet! If I go to bed now, I'll be awake by four!"

Catherine raised her head from Harm's shoulder. "That's probably all too true, Mats, but there's nothing to say that you can't try out your new, private, bathroom. There's nothing quite so soothing or relaxing as a long hot soak in beautifully scented water… with maybe just a single night-light in the corner of the bathroom…" her voice drifted away dreamily.

Mattie wrinkled her nose, "It's all a bit… girly, isn't it?" she objected.

Catherine gave a soft laugh, "I've got news for you kiddo, you are a girl! And anyway, I think I must insist! I want a soak a bit later, and we need to give the furnace time to reheat the hot water tank, so off you go… and no more arguing!"

"But what about the trash?" Mattie asked, but already Harm could hear the suggestion of hope in her voice that she wouldn't be asked to deal with it.

"Do it, squirt, I'll see to the wreckage, you go and have your soak – but don't drown!"

"'Kay… thanks, you guys…" Mattie hauled herself to her feet and with a pale, tired version of her usual sunny smile, she walked past the back of the couch, letting her hand trail along Harm's upper arm, Catherine's head and then Harm's shoulder as she yawned her way through a "G'night."

Harm waited until he heard Mattie's footsteps trailing along the as yet uncarpeted second floor hallway before he gave Catherine a slight squeeze, smiled down at her and said, "Nicely done!"

"What? You think I handled her?" Catherine was mildly surprised and twisting her head up and back she looked up into his face and seeing there the look of scepticism, "No way! I meant what I said. In about ten minutes I'm going up to check on her, because if I know Mats, she won't have any bath salts, or essential oils, or night lights…"

"Or candles?" Harm asked wickedly.

Catherine giggled, "Well, I didn't think we'd want the house burned down the first night we moved in!"

"No! So thank you for not mentioning them!"

"Anyway, I was about to say that Mattie's such a tomboy that she's never had the chance to explore her 'girly' side, and never had the luxury of her own bathroom! So… give me a hand up please, I'm going up to her now, and in about half an hour when I hope the water's re-heated, I'm going to have my own soak. In the meantime and her eyes danced with laughter, "Once you've cleared up all this crap – don't you look at me like that Harmon Rabb, I'm allowed to use that sort of language if I want! Once you've cleared up, you'll find a bottle of beer in the fridge for you!"

"Oh, well, if there's a beer in the fridge, I'll let you slide on the language – as long as Mattie's not in earshot!"

"M'mm…" Catherine stretched up and kissed him lightly, "just don't be too long; about fifty minutes should be long enough… I might need a hand getting out of the bath…"

As he watched her go Harm he felt a frisson of excitement at the thought of Catherine needing his help to get out of the bath. Their bedtime explorations had gradually become more intimate, as lips and hands explored hitherto unknown territory, but they had stopped short of the final act of consummation, not through any misplaced sense of prudery, but just that neither had felt that the time was quite right, although they had come very close a few times, especially during the last week or so. Similarly neither of them had felt it quite right yet to be totally nude in the other's presence, so for Catherine to practically invite Harm into the privacy of her bath meant that she was definitely pushing the envelope, and Harm felt a tingle of anticipation at the prospect that he hadn't felt since he'd been a hormonally charged teenager.

Xxii-xxii-xxii-xxii-xxii

Catherine plodded up the stairs to the second floor, half wishing that she'd opted to make the downstairs office into a temporary bedroom – in fact she and Harm had discussed just such a project, but on the grounds of practicality – Catherine would still have had to negotiate the stairs for access to a bath or shower – the idea had been vetoed. So, now, after pausing to catch her breath at the top of the stairs, Catherine took a stately waddle along to the bathroom she would be sharing with Harm, and pursing her lips inspected the various jars that she'd already unpacked. At last selecting one jar she turned and waddled the length of the hallway to Mattie's room, where she tapped on the door, receiving no answer, but seeing the light shining under the foot of the door, she trapped a bit harder and then cautiously opening the door saw Mattie sitting cross-legged on the bed, staring down at a book held open on her lap while nodding her head in time to the music she was listening to on her I-pod via the buds pressed home in her ears, her hair was wrapped in a towel, and she was dressed, ready for bed, in a pair of dark green, white piped, flannel pyjamas.

Crossing the few feet of space between door and bed undetected, Catherine gently tapped Mattie on the shoulder and was rewarded by seeing the teenager physically jump and give a squeal of surprised protest, "Catherine!"

"Sorry, kiddo, I didn't mean to make you jump, but I did knock… I just thought after you came up that you probably didn't have much in the way of bath-salts, so…" Catherine offered the jar to Mattie, "I know it's not a new jar, but it is one of my favourites, so try it, and if you don't like it, then no harm, no foul, OK?"

"Umm… yeah, thanks Catherine, but… ya know, I prefer just to take a shower?"

"Like you just did?"

"Umm… yeah…"

"OK… I'll tell you what… the next time you're feeling down, or stressed or… well… just out of sorts… or even lazy, dump a handful of this into the bath then run the water as hot as you can stand it, and then just lie back so the water comes right up to your chin. Don't move, just lie there, OK?"

"I dunno Catherine… it's… it's not just really me…"

"Try it, Mats… just once… it's something you owe yourself…you've been so busy being all grown up, you need to remember how to be a teenager again," and seeing Mattie's sceptical expression, Catherine smiled, leaned in and dropped a gently kiss on her forehead, "Once you get back to school and start making friends of your own age, it'll seem much more normal… I promise. And now I need you to promise me something?"

"Oh yeah?" Mattie's voice betrayed the suspicion that she was being set up.

"Yeah, don't sit up frying your brain cells with this... _'Dynamics of Flight Stability and Control_'…? Phew, that's heavy stuff, Mats. Remember we've got a full day unpacking and sorting to do tomorrow!"

Mattie grinned, "Yes, mom!"

Catherine was a bit taken aback by Mattie's form of address until she saw the gleam of mischief in the teenager's face, "Not quite, give me another month or so before you call me that!" she smiled and then winced, "Ooh! Quickly, give me your hand!" She took Mattie's hand and held in place on her swollen stomach, "There! Did you feel that?"

Mattie's expression changed to one of awed disbelief, "Wow! Was that, Elizabeth?"

"Yep, seems like she's just starting her nightly exercises – that's generally my cue to go and unwind in the bath! Goodnight, kiddo!"

"Yeah, goodnight, Catherine."

Catherine levered herself to her feet and left the teenager still sitting cross-legged with a stunned expression on her face, and as she closed the door, Catherine was almost sure she heard another amazed whisper of "Wow!"

xxii-xxii-xxii-xxii-xxii

Harm took a final look around the living room, although it was still cluttered with unpacked boxes and folded flat boxes, the contents of which had been stowed in various places about the house, it was at least clear of the wreckage from dinner. He had no illusions; although he was pretty well satisfied with the progress they had made today, there were still more boxes that needed unpacking than had been unpacked, but enough was enough for the day; banking the fire he made a quick tour of the house, ensuring that all windows and doors were locked for the night, before heading for the stairs.

The second floor landing was dark enough – lit only by the overspill of light from his – their, his and Catherine's bedroom, to see that there was no line of light shining from underneath Mattie's door signifying that the teenager had either fallen asleep, or was reading by the aid of a torch under her blankets. Harm grinned at that last thought; there was no reason, until Mattie started back at school after the holidays, that she couldn't sit up all night reading, but he suspected that even with a teenager's seemingly boundless energy, Mattie had found today to be hard work and with the prospect of more to come tomorrow.

Harm moved quietly into the bedroom on the chance that Catherine was already in bed, to find that the bed covers had been turned down, but the door to the bathroom was closed and listening carefully he could hear gentle splashing as Catherine completed her bath.

Stripping down to his boxers, he sat on the edge of the bed, letting his mind rove back over the events of the day. With years of naval service behind him, early rising was no problem for Harm, and not much of a problem for Catherine, in addition to her newly acquired habit of swimming each morning, the weight of her pregnancy on her bladder had her up at least twice during each night and again early in the morning, so they were up and showered and their bed stripped in a very few minutes. Hauling Mattie out of bed had been another matter entirely. Energetic she may have been once she was up, but getting her up and out of bed so early in the morning was no easy task and, despite having showered, it was a still bleary-eyed and grumpy teen that eventually dragged the black refuse sack containing her bedding out into the living room. The last box containing the used bedding was sealed shut and the three victims – as Mattie insisted they were, headed out to breakfast.

Fortunately for all, Mattie's mood lightened with the coming of the sun and the prospect of breakfast at the local IHOP, and by the time breakfast was finished at about oh seven thirty hours – rounded off by what even Harm considered a good cup of coffee, the hitherto taciturn young woman had been transformed into a sunnier version of her early morning self.

According to the plans made and by arrangement with the movers, the contents of the loft were to be the first to be collected, so dropping Catherine of at the new house – with strict instructions that she wasn't to lift as much as a finger - and Mattie at Catherine's apartment Harm headed across town to the neighbourhood north of Union Station to open the loft, meet the movers and ensure that what was to be taken was loaded onto their truck and what was to be left behind remained in situ. He shook his head at the memory – how the heck had that battered old couch sneaked itself on to the mover's truck?

The removal of the loft's contents organised – or so he'd thought – Harm had dashed across town to the Georgetown apartment where suitcases and overnight bags were hastily thrown into the Lexus and he and Mattie awaited the arrival of the movers

The emptying of Catherine's apartment was much less complicated than had been the removal of only part of the contents of the loft. In the case of the apartment it was simple; everything was to go, so once the movers had arrived it was sufficient for Harm to hand over the apartment key and then for he and Mattie to head for Vienna, where he warned her with a grim smile they were about to earn their dinner.

It wasn't until they had started to 'earn their dinner' that both Harm and Catherine appreciated the forethought and planning that Mattie had devoted to the move. Each box, each piece of furniture had a label attached; blue for the first floor, red for the second, and green for the loft. Each label was prominently marked with the room, the number of the item and the total number of the items for that room. As a result Catherine was able to sit in a kitchen chair in the hallway and direct the movers where to deposit each load while Harm and Mattie took on each room in turn, and unpack the boxes.

But despite Mattie's planning ahead there was just too much more to be done than could be achieved in one day, no matter how enthusiastic the workers, and by six pm even Harm's enthusiasm was waning, so by six-thirty, by some unspoken but mutual consent the work ground to a lackadaisical halt and although energies were re-ignited in a passionate but brief discussion on the merits of Chinese take-out versus pizza for dinner. Mattie had argued her case eloquently, brilliantly even, and her face had lit up as Harm and Catherine stipulated to point after point. They listened carefully to her impassioned closing argument and then with just the quirk of a grin on his lips, Harm has simply said, "Veto – and that's Latin for I forbid!"

"Oh! That is so not fair!" Mattie cried out in frustration.

"Maybe so, but it's a whole lot healthier for everybody – including Elizabeth!" Harm reminded her, but not unkindly.

Mattie scowled, but without putting much effort into the expression, "One day, I'm gonna get myself knocked up," she threatened, "And then I'll play the pregnancy card for all it's worth – just like someone else I know!"

"But the sad thing, Kiddo, is that you are bright and intelligent, and when that day comes you're gonna put your baby's welfare first!" Catherine smiled at her.

"Damn, I am so busted," Mattie exclaimed mournfully, "Maybe I shoulda stayed in Charlottesville with Beth and her girlfriend – at least I coulda got a pizza every once in a while!"

Harm looked across at Mattie, "Who said anything about Beth having a girlfriend?" he asked nonchalantly – perhaps too nonchalantly.

"Oh… puhleease!" Mattie groaned. "I'd have to have been like blind not to see it!"

Catherine and Harm exchanged a perplexed look, which didn't go unnoticed by Mattie, "Look, I know the Navy have got all sorts of rules, like don't ask, don't tell, and… Well, for just this one time, I'm trying not to be cheeky… I mean I'm not saying you're old… but things change, the way people see things change, and people my age see things differently from people your age… and being gay for me, for kids my age, doesn't mean you're bad. I mean like, yeah, there are bad gays, but there are bad straights as well, ya know….?"

Harm grinned at the memory of the dumbfounded expression that had crossed Catherine's face at Mattie's words, and was pretty sure that his own face had mirrored her stunned expression.

"Something tickled your funny bone, sailor?" Catherine's light voice drew him back to the here and now.

"Just remembering the look on your face, when Mats was talking about how her generation was more tolerant of gays than ours!"

"Huh! I'll bet my face wasn't any more of a picture than yours!" Catherine huffed as she lowered herself onto the chair in front of her dressing table, and started to pat the ends of her hair dry.

"No… that thought had also crossed my mind!" Harm admitted with a broad grin, as he swivelled across the bed, ending up sitting on the opposite side, and looking over Catherine's shoulder at her reflected image in the mirror.

As his face came into her view she smiled and then gave an exaggerated sniff, "If you think you're going to share a bed with me tonight sailor, then I strongly recommend that you get yourself under the shower and unsmellied!"

"M'mm… I might just do that," Harm agreed as he leaned forward and deftly parting her hair with his nose, exposed the spot where the column of her neck merged almost imperceptibly with the smooth skin of her shoulder, and with deadly accuracy he planted a moist kiss on that spot and followed it up with infinitesimally small, gentle, rapid, nibbling bitelets, the effects of which caused Catherine to drop her hands and sag backwards into her chair, uttering a groan of pleasure as she did so.

"Go…shower…" she groaned, "before I jump your bones right here and now…"

"Hold that thought," Harm replied huskily as he stood, making no attempt to hide or disguise his arousal as he edged past Catherine and headed for the bathroom.

Emerging from the bathroom having completed his pre-bed ritual, Harm found the bedroom in darkness, except for one votive candle burning in its holder at the corner of the dressing table furthest from the bed, in which Catherine lay on her side, facing Harm's side of the bed, and the covers pulled right up to her shoulders. Harm dropped his towel, and lifting the covers slid into bed facing Catherine. Again, by mutual if unspoken consent they inched towards each other, until they were close enough that each could feel the other's warm breath on their faces. Catherine raised herself to a half-sitting posture and then leaned in towards Harm, her mouth seeking his in a kiss that started gently and then became more demanding, as her hand sought and found evidence of his need.

Catherine increased her pressure on Harm's upper body until he lay flat on his back, and then she broke the kiss with a ragged gasp for breath.

"Catherine?" Harm asked gently as he looked up into her blue eyes, now smoky with desire.

"Oh, yes. Oh, so very yes," she replied as she swung her leg over his hips, allowing the covers to slide down her back as she straddled him, taking him into her body and began to move on top of him.

Some ten minutes later and some sixty feet away, behind two closed doors a drowsy Mattie, on the very edge of sleep, thought she heard a soft wavering cry of "Haaarm!" and smiling, snuggled down into her pillows.

xxii-xxii-xxii-xxii-xxii

Harm awoke to a strange feeling of absence. Eyes still closed, his forehead furrowed in thought as he tried to work out what – or rather who – was missing. Then it came to him; he had so quickly become accustomed to waking with the weight of Catherine's head on his shoulder and the feel of her pregnant belly propped against his side that the absence of those contacts had been enough to wake him. At the same moment as recognition of the loss came a moment of fear that something was wrong. His eyes shot open and he propped himself up on his elbows, to the accompaniment of a soft chuckle, and a whisper of "Easy, sailor…"

Breathing a sigh of relief, Harm subsided onto his pillow and turned his head to the side where Catherine lay on her side propped on one elbow as she studied him.

"See anything you like?" he asked quietly, straining to make out her expression in the pre-sunrise gloom.

"Not much to see," she teased gently, "but what there is seems OK…"

"OK? Only OK?" he demanded with a pretence of being affronted, "Well… I was going to say things like wunderbar, bella-bella, fantastique… but if the best you can come up with is 'OK' then I guess I'll have to cool my jets a little bit too…"

"Oh, OK isn't bad, sweetheart, it just means that I figure we need just a little more practice…"

"You do, huh?"

"Oh yeah, after all practice makes perf…" whatever Catherine had been about to say was silenced as Harm's mouth stopped her breath with a gentle yet passionate kiss.

xxii-xxii-xxii-xxii-xxii

Mattie stood at the kitchen range, still in her pyjamas but with a nubbly multi-coloured – reds and oranges predominated – sweater over her jacket and her feet shoved into a pair of well-worn and down at heel red and yellow plaid carpet slippers, and with her hair pulled back into a riotously curling and dishevelled pony tail carelessly thrust through a dazzlingly lime-green scrunchie. Harm and Catherine had plenty of time to observe the spectacle Mattie afforded as Harm, with his hand in the small of Catherine's back guided and supported her through the living room and into the kitchen, as the teenager's attention was totally taken up with the eggs she was gently stirring in one pan, while the combined aroma of maple smoked bacon and fried tomatoes rose from a large skillet on one of the other burners.

Mattie eventually became aware that she wasn't alone and spun on her heel spatula and eyes levelled accusingly at Harm and Catherine, "Just how long have you two…" she began before she let her voice trail off in to silence and allowed a sappy smile to spread across her face as she noticed that Catherine was leaning back in the circle of Harm's arms, her back against his chest and her face turned up and sideways so that she could look into his eyes, while he returned her look with one of his own, so intense that Mattie caught her breath, realising that she had in fact heard Catherine's soft cry of the night before, but it was only now in the cold light of day that she came close to understanding the cry and placing it in context. So it was with averted eyes and crimson cheeks that she coughed to catch Catherine and Harm's attention, "Eggs, toast, fried tomatoes – and for those who want it, maple-smoked Canadian bacon!" she announced gruffly.

"M'mm… sounds good, Catherine remarked as she allowed Harm to help her onto one the kitchen bar-stools, "Any chance of a cup of tea to go with that?"

"Hey, I've only got like one pair of hands!" an indignant Mattie yelped.

"And you've done really well with them, Squirt!" Harm hastened to reassure her, "This is an unexpected, but very much appreciated surprise, Mats. Thank you! But I think I can manage the tea!"

Breakfast was a much quieter affair than was usual for a weekend meal with Mattie at the table, and although it couldn't be said that the atmosphere was strained it was subdued. So it was with a feeling of almost relief that Catherine heard Mattie say that she was going for a shower and to get dressed in working clothes.

"Hey what about the washing up?" Harm challenged.

"You know the rules," Mattie grinned, "Them's that cook don't get to clear up afterwards!" she reminded him.

"That's true," Catherine seconded her as she slid off her stool, "Come on, you wash and I'll dry."

"Dammit! That's the first on the jobs list today!" Harm muttered.

"What's that sweetheart?"

"Plumb in the dishwasher, the dryer and the washing machine!" Harm replied. "Three of my favourite things to do!" Harm grumbled as he took a handful of plates from Mattie.

"Couldn't you have got the movers to do it?" Mattie asked.

"No… they wouldn't have been board-certified, so they would have had to call in a plumber to do it and that would have cost more than their already exorbitant fees. And," he finished heavily with a quelling glare at both the women, "I said it's something I don't like doing, not that it's something I can't do!"

Catherine and Mattie exchanged a hasty glance, and then afraid they would start giggling hastily looked away from each other, Catherine reaching for another plate of the drainer, and Mattie turning to put away the condiments, before she half turned and looking back over her shoulder said, "OK, that's me for a shower and getting dressed!"

Catherine leaned back against the work-top and waited until the teenager had trotted upstairs before she smiled, and toying with the top button Harm's shirt she said, "You do realise that we are so busted, don't you?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Harm responded, already losing himself in the clear blue pools that were Catherine's eyes.

"I mean that we've given ourselves away… Mattie knows!"

"Knows what?" A baffled Harm persisted.

But before Catherine could answer the strains of Olivia Newton John's 'Physical' blasting out of Mattie's music centre could be heard quite clearly in the kitchen. Catherine gasped, "Oh… listen!"

Harm frowned as he concentrated on the lyrics, and then his brow cleared and he gave a crack of laughter, "Yeah… I guess we are!" he conceded, "but does it matter?"

"No… I don't suppose it does," Catherine agreed as she led him by the hand to the old black leather couch, "In fact, it might be even be helpful for the hearing…"

"How so?" Harm inquired an eyebrow heading for his hairline as he lent Catherine the support of his arms as she lowered herself onto the couch.

"Well when ICE check for fraudulent marriages for Green Cards…?" Harm nodded, "One of the things they look for are signs that the supposed husband and wife are involved in a full marriage, not just in a _mariage de convenance_!"

Harm nodded again. It wasn't something he had previously considered, but Catherine had raised a valid point. But even so, the intimate details of his relationship with Catherine wasn't something that he would like to hear being discussed. "Yeah, maybe…" he ran his fingers through his hair, "but it's not something I would open the door on…"

"Oh God, no!" Catherine was almost equally mortified at the thought, "but if it does come up we can at least say with hands on hearts that…"

"Yeah, yeah, we could," Harm interrupted hastily, becoming more uncomfortable with the subject matter almost by the second, "but let's leave that evil until we have to tackle in court – if we do! Now, I believe we stowed the toolbox under the sink…"

Catherine giggled at Harm's somewhat less than subtle attempt to change the subject, but smiled fondly at him as he wrestled the dishwasher out from under the work-top.

"If you're going to bury yourself in the macho stuff like that, I'm going to co-opt Mattie and we'll make a start on the living room!"

Harm re-emerged from under the work-top and levered himself up into a sitting position, a stern expression on his face. "OK, but no lifting!" he warned her. "I mean it, he added when he saw the stubborn expression settle on her face. "You can lift individual books, but no higher than your shoulders, and preferably from a sitting down position. Anything else leave it for Mattie, and if it's anything she can't manage safely, then either call me if it's urgent, or wait until I've finished this couple of jobs!"

Catherine bit back a sharp retort at Harm swinging into a full-blown overprotective posture, and contented herself with a long-suffering, "Yes, dad!"

Harm swung himself back onto his feet and taking her gently by the hips, he drew Catherine toward him as far as her belly would allow, and looking earnestly into her eyes said in a gentler tone, "I know I keep on at you, but it's only because I worry about you and Elizabeth. You've come so far, a lot of it by yourself, and I wish I could have been there for from day one, so maybe I'm over-compensating, but I couldn't bear it if anything were to happen to you, or our baby."

Catherine leaned her head forward until it was resting against Harm's chest, "I know, I know," she sighed, "but really this has been an easy pregnancy – according to the horror stories some of the other moms have told me in ante-natal classes or in the locker room, and I know a lot of that, a lot of it," she repeated for emphasis, "has been the care you – and now Mattie – have taken of me. But because it has been so easy, I feel I can do so much more, and it frustrates me when you put an arbitrary limit on what I can and can't do…."

"Oh, Catherine, it's not arbitrary… it's sensible!"

"Ohhh!" Catherine ground out in frustration, "I know! I know! It just seems arbitrary! Ow!"

The cry was occasioned by a sharp kick delivered by Elizabeth somewhere in the general vicinity of Catherine's spleen, in response to her stamp of a frustrated foot.

Both Catherine and Harm froze for an instant, before Catherine mustered a weak smile, and taking Harm's hand placed it on her bump, and in response to his raised eyebrows said, "Your daughter apparently does not like it when mommy becomes frustrated!"

"My daughter?" Harm echoed, entering into the spirit of the conversation which had suddenly taken on a bantering tone.

"Of course," Catherine replied smugly, "_My_ daughter would never be so ill-mannered as to reprimand her mommy!"

Harm's grin broadened, "I walked right into that, didn't I?"

Catherine's return smile was eighty per cent mischief and twenty per cent victory as she said sweetly, "Oh, yeah!"

Harm's smile was even broader as he leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "Sit."

It was only then that Catherine realised that Harm had subtly manoeuvred her out of the kitchen and into the living room and had now backed her up against the black leather couch. Letting out a groan of frustration, at being so effortlessly handled, Catherine grasped Harm's hands and allowed herself to be lowered into a nest of throw pillows, but cast a darkling glance up at his smiling face and said, "I am so going to get you for that!"

xxii-xxii-xxii-xxii-xxii

By the time Harm had finished plumbing in the dishwasher the washing machine and the tumble dryer, Catherine had fixed a platter of sandwiches for lunch, and hauling herself onto one of the barstools she called the other two for lunch.

There was a bit of jostling at the sink as a grimy Harm battled for access to soap and water with an equally grimy Mattie. Harm looked at her, noticing the streak of dirt down her cheek and her filthy hands and asked in surprise, "What have you been up to? I thought you were helping Catherine in the living room!"

"Oh, I did, we've unpacked all the living room boxes, and we've shelved the books and ornaments and things, and we've put the pictures on the floor, against the walls where Catherine wants them hung."

"So… the dirt? Hold still," he wiped the smear of dirt from her cheek, "Where did that all come from?"

"Oh I spent the last forty minutes or so crawling around under your desks in the den - wiring up the computers. You and Catherine now have a fully functional two computer LAN, all hooked up to a printer, scanner and fax machine." She tilted her head, and looked at him quizzically, "In fact, if you had decent security software, you could as easily work from home!"

"Oh, I think my boss might have something to say about that!" he laughed as they made their way to the breakfast counter.

"Yeah, probably," Mattie agreed, "But you do need to get someone who really knows what they're doing, to review your computer security. Some of that so-called protection you've got installed is three or more years old!"

"Is that a bad thing?" Catherine asked, joining the conversation as she, much to Mattie's disgust, poured a glass of milk for the teenager.

"Hell, yeah! Most computer security programmes are out of date by the time they're installed!"

"So why do people buy them?" Catherine wrinkled her nose.

"Well, when they're designed, they're designed to meet specific threats, but the first people who buy them are the sickos who enjoy screwing with…"

A reproving duet of "Mattie!" brought a flush to her cheeks and a muttered "Sorry!" as she bit into her sandwich.

Harm and Catherine waited until she'd chewed and swallowed, and then with a look at Harm, Catherine continued, "You were saying about the people who first buy this software?"

"Oh yeah. They buy it just to see what the designers have done to make it more efficient, and then they set out to write programs specifically to get around the new security protocols."

"But if they're that good at what they do, why don't they apply for jobs at these software companies?" Harm asked.

Mattie shrugged, "Who can tell? Sickos and weirdos all of them." She took another bite of her sandwich and chewed thoughtfully before she swallowed and then said, "Look you two work for the government, isn't there some sort of government surplus software you could buy? After all, the military and the State Department must have thousands of highly protected secrets."

"It doesn't quite work like that, Mattie," Catherine said, with a note of regret in her voice, "but maybe I could ask one of the techs at work for his recommendations..."

"Or, I could ask Bud to take a look," Harm suggested.

Catherine paused her sandwich poised in mid-air between her plate and her mouth, "Bud?" she asked incredulously.

"Yeah, Bud." Harm grinned, he was enjoying this, "Underneath that bumbling pseudo-minister, is one of the sharpest, most computer-savvy minds in the whole of the DC area. I'll bet he could even give your Langley techs a run for their money, especially when dealing with a small scale network."

"Well… if you say so…" Catherine said doubtfully, "although I'm not convinced. Remember he did download the wrong marriage ceremony for us!"

"Wait a minute!" A thoroughly baffled Mattie broke in, "You two are _married_ already?"

"No!" Catherine retorted at the same time as Harm said "Yes!"

"OK, that's it, I'm now officially confused!" Mattie complained, "Officially confused teenager here!" she took a swallow of milk, and glared across the counter at Harm and Catherine, both of whom showed signs of breaking into hysterical laughter.

And it was with a great deal of laughter that Harm and Catherine related to Mattie the full tale of the whirlwind of events that led up to the fake marriage at Esther's bedside, and by the time they'd finished certain past elliptical comments suddenly made sense to Mattie and she too was mopping her eyes to free them from the tears of laughter that the story of the same-sex order of service had produced.

"Only you, Harm!" she gasped through her laughter, "It could only happen to you!"

"Hey I was there too!" an offended Catherine reminded her.

"Yeah, but if Harm hadn't have been there it wouldn't have happened at all, would it?" Mattie asked reasonably, but with the air of one presenting an irrefutable argument.

Harm pushed his plate away, took a gulp from his bottle of water, leaned his elbows on the counter and said musingly, "You know Catherine, she's only been with us a little while, but I think we're already having a positive effect on her. I reckon she's going to make a great attorney!"

Mattie almost choked on the last of her milk, "Me? An attorney?" she squeaked, "Never happen!"

Harm suddenly lost his joking attitude, "What _do_ you want to do with your life, Mats?" he asked her gently.

"I dunno…" Mattie wriggled slightly, uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was taking.

"Well, that was some pretty serious aeronautical reading you were doing last night," Catherine hinted with a sidelong glance at Harm.

"Oh?" Harm looked back at Mattie, "One of my books?"

"No… I got it from a second-hand bookshop off Wisconsin, in Georgetown. It was a steal, only eleven bucks twenty five!"

"Uh-huh, which book?" Harm asked, now really interested. If Mattie was spending half her weekly allowance on a single book, then the subject must be important to her.

"Umm…_'Dynamics of Flight Stability and Control_'," Mattie mumbled, slightly embarrassed.

Harm raised his eyebrows in surprise, "Etkin and Reid? That is pretty heavy, Squirt." And although he didn't ask the question hung in the air between them.

"Well, I figure that if I want to fly jets for the military then I need a degree that's sort of applicable, and I figure that aeronautics or aircraft engineering is the way to go," Mattie explained defensively.

"Fly for the military, hey?" Harm asked teasing her gently.

"Yeah… depends on which branch has the coolest jets at the time…" Mattie gave back as good a she got.

Harm looked at her thoughtfully. If Mattie determined on a military flying career he would support her every step of the way, and he could do much worse than gradually introduce her to his circle of friends – particularly female friends – in naval aviation.

But… "The military aren't the only people who fly jets," he reminded her.

"No… but they're the only ones who fly fast jests!" she shot back at him, and then with a grin aimed at softening her reply she quoted, "and I feel the need, the need for…"

"Speed!" Harm and Catherine chorused with her.

Harm and Mattie just sat open-mouthed and stared at Catherine who flushed under their scrutiny and said somewhat defensively, "What? A girl can't like 'Top Gun'?"

"Well… it's just that it's all about fast jets and fighter pilots, Catherine…" Harm began.

"Yeah, but one of those pilots just happens to be Tom Cruise!" Catherine replied tartly.

"Oh, yeah…" Mattie breathed ecstatically.

Harm looked suspiciously at the teenager, "You do know that Tom Cruise isn't really a Tomcat driver, don't you? I mean if Top Gun is influencing you towards military flying, that's fine, but if you're hoping to meet Tom Cruise at Miramar or Fallon, nowadays, you're going to be disappointed!"

Mattie slid off her stool and walked around the island where she threw her arms around as much of Harm as she could reach, "Nah, what would I want with a fictional hero, when I've got a real one living in the same house!" And before Harm could react, she slipped from his embrace and with a saucy wink over her shoulder started clearing the lunch time wreckage.

Harm gave himself a shake, determined to discuss Mattie's last revelation with Catherine, and then stood in to the sink to give her a hand, saying over his shoulder to Catherine, "What's the plan for the rest of the day?"

"Well, Mattie and I have still got a load of clothes to unpack and sort out, but somebody needs to go to the grocery store, we're about out of everything except dry goods!"

"OK, I can do that. I spotted an organic store down on the Leesburg Pike, and if I can't find what we want there, I'm sure they'll be able to tell me where to get it!" He paused a moment a two, before he asked "Has anyone any special requests for dinner tonight?"

Catherine and Mattie looked at each other before Mattie said slowly, "Well… you did a pasta sauce one time, with prawns and clams in it…"

Catherine nodded, "Yes it was like seafood Carbonara! And you did it with garlic bread, too…"

"Yeah and with tutti frutti ice-cream to follow," Mattie finished off.

"I should have known you'd remember the ice-cream, Squirt!" Harm objected.

"Yeah, well, it wouldn't be me if I didn't, would it!" Mattie challenged him.

"No… No… I guess it wouldn't!" Harm agreed with a smile before he turned to Catherine, "Just a reminder that we're expected at Bud and Harriett's for lunch tomorrow, so look out something decent for Mattie to wear…" he held up a hand to stop her imminent protest, "Jeans are fine, Mattie, as long as they're one of your new pairs."

Mattie looked a little concerned, all of a sudden she felt like she was receiving mixed messages, "Uh… Harm… I'm not sure about this…"

"About what Mats?"

"About lunch with your friends…" she cast an anxious glance at both Catherine and Harm. "I mean it sounded like a great idea, but now it sounds as if it's getting all heavy and formal…"

Harm led Mattie to the couch, and stopping only to make sure that Catherine was safely and comfortably installed in one of the armchairs sat down next to Mattie and taking both her hands in his, "Mats, Bud and Harriet are two of the kindest people I know. Harriet's kind of nosey, and she'll probably want to get your life story in the first five minutes, but she's also gonna be kind of busy with little A J and Jimmy. AJ is about five years old, and Jimmy's still a baby. They're real down-home folks, it's just that, well… when you're visiting someone's house, especially for the first time, it's kinda nice to show some respect by making a little bit of effort, you know?"

Mattie frowned and bit her bottom lip, "OK, I'll do it," she said reluctantly, "But if she gets too nosey, I'm bailing!"

"No… don't do that Mats," Harm corrected her gently, "Just say… oh… that you could tell her the answer, but then you'd have to kill her!"

"Harm!" A shocked Catherine interrupted.

"Well, alright, maybe not that extreme, but although Harriet can be persistent, she won't be upset if you tell her that you don't want to answer any more questions, especially if you're polite about it!"

"OK… I suppose I can do polite…" Mattie conceded.

"Good girl!" Harm said warmly.


	23. Chapter 23

**23**

Despite his exasperation, Harm felt a warm glow of satisfaction as he stood back, hands on hips, and surveyed his handiwork, and looked over his shoulder to where Catherine nested on the couch. At breakfast that morning Catherine had realised that the morning sun through the side window of the living room shone directly and intensely on the books arranged on the bookshelf. Complaining that the strong light would eventually damage the books and fade the covers, she had insisted that the bookshelf be moved from the west wall to the north wall of the living room, where it would be out of the sun's direct rays.

Of course, Harm had been in the middle of drilling and plugging holes in the walls at the spots where Catherine had indicated she wanted to hang pictures – including the north wall, so that particular undertaking ground to a halt while Harm and Mattie stripped the bookshelf of its burden.

"How many damn' books have you got here?" Mattie grumbled as the stacks overflowed the coffee table and started to occupy the two armchairs.

Harm was too much in sympathy with Mattie's sentiments to gig her for her language, and Catherine decided that on the balance of things, a soft answer might turn away wrath, "Uh, about a thousand, I guess…" she admitted with an apologetic smile.

"At least!" grumbled Harm as he wedged the top of yet another pile under his chin.

With the shelves finally emptied, a red-faced and damply glowing Mattie turned to Harm and asked simply, "Tea?"

"Oh, yeah!" he agreed emphatically.

Mattie turned towards Catherine, her face emotionless, "Boss?"

"Yes please, Mattie," Catherine asked – almost humbly, as she fought to keep a straight face while Harm inserted a screwdriver head in the power drill and tightened the chuck key.

The drill made short work of detaching the bookshelf from the wall, and Harm removed the last screw just as Mattie carried the three mugs to the coffee table, where Catherine with the air of somebody who was being extremely helpful carefully eased the piles of books aside to make enough room for the tea.

Ten minutes passed in silence as they drank their tea, and although she presented a calm, even placid front, as she sipped her tea, Catherine was fighting a desperate battle against laughter every time she glanced at either Harm or Mattie's sulking faces.

The tea drunk, Catherine offered to rinse the cups while the other two moved the bookshelf and secured it to the wall, only to be glared at by Mattie and told by an exasperated Harm, "No… you stay right where you are…"

Catherine once again fought down her laughter and with downcast eyes said meekly, "Yes, Harm."

Harm thought he had caught a discordant note in her voice and glowered suspiciously at her before snorting in exasperation and turning to Mattie said, "OK, Squirt, if you're sure it isn't too heavy for you, one each end, and steady as we go."

Mattie nodded, "I can manage, Harm!"

"OK, take that end, Mats, and concentrate on keeping the shelves upright, and I'll just pivot my end around you, and then we can back it up against the wall."

"Got it, Harm!" Mattie affirmed.

The manoeuvre completed, Harm turned back to Mattie, "Right, can you just hold it while I mark and drill?"

Mattie nodded, confident she could hold the empty shelf unit in place while Harm quickly changed the screwdriver blade for the drill bit in the power drill, all the while keeping an eye on Mattie, ready to drop everything and take the weight of the shelves should the teenager start to struggle.

Five minutes and three screws later, Harm gave a firm tug on the unit, and happy that it was now securely fixed to the wall nodded to Mattie that it was OK to let go, and looked at his watch.

Ten minutes later, he finished tightening thelast of the screws that held the bookshelf in place, he unplugged the power drill and wound up the cable before putting it back in its box, "OK, Catherine. Mattie and I need to go and get cleaned up… You sit still and don't lift a finger," he admonished. We'll be about… half an hour?" he cocked his head at Mattie and received a confirmatory nod in return and the pair headed for the stairs and their respective bedrooms.

Harm stepped out of the shower, feeling relaxed as well as clean, his niggling frustrations washed away under the jet of water. Briskly drying himself, he wrapped a towel around his waist and crossed the bathroom to the door to the bedroom.

Stepping into the clean pair of boxers he'd left ready on the bed he turned towards the closet to select a shirt and slacks when Catherine, whose approach had been remarkably quiet for a woman in the late stages of her third trimester, spoke from the bedroom doorway.

"Now, that's a sight I'd pay good money to see," she said, appreciatively and provocatively at the same time.

Harm turned to face her as she stepped through the doorway and closed the door behind her, snicking the privacy lock into place as she did so. Then, as she crossed the room, it seemed to Harm that she stalked towards him.

"Uh Catherine…" but his mouth was stopped as she closed the distance between the, reached up, took the back of his head in both hands and drew his face down to hers for her kiss, her tongue probing at the seam of his lips, which gave under the pressure as she deepened the kiss..

Breaking off for air, Harm kept his hands on her hips, where they had come to rest, seemingly of their own volition, at some stage of the kiss, and breathing deeply, he smiled and said somewhat shakily, "Wow… What was that for? Not that I'm complaining…"

Catherine smiled up at him, "I could say it was to make up for laughing at you and Mattie sulking over moving the bookcase… but the truth is it's because you love me, you make me happy and… I just plain old wanted to…"

"M'mm… I love you t…" Harm began, but once again his mouth was stopped by Catherine's, and then he felt her hand, tugging at the waistband of his boxers. Tearing his mouth from hers he groaned, "Oh, Catherine, we can't… the time… Mattie… Bud, Harriet…"

"Shut up, sailor!" she whispered against his lips, at the same time giving him a gentle shove so that the edge of the bed caught the back of his legs and losing his balance he fell backwards on the mattress.

Catherine plucked loose the buttons at the neckline and breast of her maternity dress, and giving a shrug allowed it to slide down her body and puddle at her feet.

Harm tried again to protest, but his body's reaction gave the lie to his words as Catherine knelt on the bed above him and leaning forward kissed him again.

xxiii-xxiii-xxiii-xxiii-xxiii

Mattie was already unhappy; as Harm had suggested? Asked? Ordered? She was wearing one of her new pairs of jeans, which still had that 'new clothes'; smell about them, and they felt stiff and uncomfortable, and worse they looked new! She had rebelled slightly in that her sweat shirt wasn't new, and she had refused point blank, mentally at any rate, to wear a button-down shirt underneath it. It was bad enough that Catherine had persuaded her – forced her more likely – into wearing a bra, an item of clothing that seemed more like a constructing instrument of torture than something that was supposed to make her feel more feminine.

But that was only one source of her irritation, she had been sitting – uncomfortably – she reminded herself on the couch in the living room, waiting for at least twenty minutes for Harm and Catherine to finish getting ready, and now glancing for the tenth time at her mom's watch, she realised that unless they were extremely lucky with the traffic, that they were going to be late! Not, considering Harm's reputation for tardiness, that she should be surprised, but it was still damn-well pissing her off!

Finally! Harm and Catherine came into the living room, both looking remarkably fresh and in clean clothes. Mattie glared at the two adult and sniffed audibly, "About time too!" she said caustically.

Harm took one look at the fulminating teenager on the couch and broke into an apologetic grin, "Sorry Mattie, but we started… uh… talking… about the baby and we kind of got carried away and lost track of the time…"

Mattie regarded him sceptically, "Yeah, right…"

Harm tried to bluff his way out of the morass and tried to keep a straight face, while Catherine had the grace to blush and look embarrassed.

Mattie picked up on Catherine's discomfort and raised a cynical eyebrow, "Just what were the two of you…" and as realisation dawned she shut her mouth with an audible click, and colour rising in her own cheeks, she hastily added, "So are we ready now?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Harm assured her, too relieved to have her drop the subject to raise any objections to her obvious assumptions, and too savvy to try and protest that those assumptions were wrong.

xxiii-xxiii-xiii-xxiii-xxiii

At his and Harriet's home on North Courthouse Street, Rosslyn, Bud Roberts studied his wife as Harriet bustled about the kitchen, putting the finishing touches to the salad while the kitchen was redolent with the aroma of freshly baked garlic bread and the vegetable lasagne in the oven, while the large pot of Bolognese sauce simmering on one of the burners made its own contribution to the atmosphere.

Bud had played his part during Harriet's preparations, he had not only kept A J from under his mother's feet, but had also bathed and changed Jimmy – twice – stocked the fridge with beers, bottled water and cans of soda, drawn the cork from the wines to allow to them to breathe and had set the table with the second best place settings – the ones Lydia Simms had bought them for a wedding present.

Now having brewed a pot of coffee, Bud sat at the kitchen table enjoying what he felt was a richly deserved cup of the best Arabica coffee as Harriet finished washing up and rinsing the last of the utensils she had used, before joining her husband. Taking her chair with a sigh of satisfied relief, Harriet picked up the mug Bud slid across to her and sniffed appreciatively, closing her eyes in satisfaction as she took her first sip.

Harriet looked far too happily complacent and Bud felt a growing sense of unease as he looked at her. Bud waited for her to put her mug down, and then asked "Harriett, sweetie, what's going on in that devious little mind of yours?"

Harriet opened her blue eyes to their widest and most innocent extent, "Why, Bud Roberts, whatever do you mean?"

Bid put down his own mug and cradled it between his hands, "Harriet… you haven't done anything dumb, have you? Like, maybe inviting somebody else to join us after lunch? You know what the Comm… what Harm said about anybody else from JAG being here… that he'd drive right by? Well, if he was prepared to do that. What's the betting that if somebody else from JAG turned up, he wouldn't just get up and leave?"

"Do you think he'd really do that?" asked Harriet, a crease appearing between her eyebrows as she frowned slightly.

"Yes I do. Please tell me that you haven't…?"

"No, I'm not expecting anyone else this afternoon, Bud. But it concerns me – no, it worries me that the Commander has cut all contacts with JAG, and for all we know with the navy. I just want to talk with him and find out why… and of course, I want to know all about this Catherine… Gale?" Bud nodded in confirmation as Harriet continued, "And what about this teenager he's thinking of adopting?"

Bud looked at her solemnly. "Harriett, you mustn't start interrogating him. You know how close-mouthed Harm can be about his feelings and his relationships…"

"But it's such turn around for him Bud… he and the Colonel… for years they've been hovering around each other…"

"Yeah, they have, Sweetie, but neither of them has taken a dive – well not with each other. You know as well as I do that the nearest either of them have come to making any sort of commitment was when the Colonel nearly married Commander Brumby…"

"Yeah, but the Colonel broke that off when Harm crashed into the ocean…"

"No, no she didn't, Harriet. It was Commander Brumby that called off the wedding, and then if you remember the Colonel went TAD. Sure the Commander went after her, but you'll remember that he was damn close-mouthed about what went on between them when he came back."

"Bud! Language!" Harriet protested with a meaningful look at the open door to the family room, where A J could be heard making 'zooming' noises as he played with his already large, and growing collection, of toy airplanes.

"Sorry." Bud apologised perfunctorily, "But think about it sweetie, you know I'm right."

Harriet nodded, but remained unconvinced, "But what if this Catherine is the rebound girl, it won't be fair on her…"

Bud looked troubled for an instant, but then his face lightened. "No… I don't think that's the case; we've seen how cautious the Commander is about making a commitment, there was Annie Pendry, Commander Parker – the psychologist, or was she a psychiatrist? And then Renee… H'mm... had you realised that as far as we know, the Commander hasn't dated anyone since Renee… it's almost as if he was waiting for the Colonel to stop dithering… And now she has, except she's chosen Mister Webb over the Commander. So, no, buying a house with Catherine Gale says to me that he is at last making a commitment."

Harriet took another sip of her coffee, nodding in acknowledgement of Bud's argument, and then asked curiously, "You've met her Bud, what she likes?"

Bud considered the question for a few moments before replying, "Well… she's an attorney for CIA, we met her on the Angelshark case; she's blonde – lighter than you, though, and her eyes are very pale blue, almost grey. She's very attractive, very smart and determined, but she gave me the impression when I saw her at the hospital that she's also very compassionate and very caring. You know… I sometimes thought I saw a spark of something between her and the Commander right as far back as the Angelshark, and I know she had something to do with letting the Commander in on what was happening last spring with Mister Webb and the Colonel."

Harriet nodded again, "But you don't know anything about why and how they hooked up?"

Bud looked uncomfortable, "Sweetie, as far as I'm concerned and unless the Commander tells me of his own free will, then that is an area into which I'm not going to trespass. And neither is the state of the relationship between the Commander and the Colonel." He prevented Harriet's interruption with a raised finger, "I don't know what happened between them, but I once asked the Colonel if she missed him being at JAG, and all she said was 'At least it's quieter; nobody's firing off automatic weapons in the courtroom.' So, slightly less than sympathetic, wouldn't you say?"

Harriet, although troubled was compelled to nod her agreement as Bud concluded, "That is why I am not going to ask the Commander about the Colonel, and it is also why you mustn't ask either!"

Harriet was on the verge of arguing with her husband when she recognised the seldom seen but undeniable stubborn expression that meant that on this occasion there was no give, no leeway in his decision.

xxiii-xxiii-xiii-xxiii-xxiii

Harm eased the Lexus to a halt and nodded sideways, indicating the neat, white-painted house set back from the road with a curving driveway looping around an expanse of neatly-kept lawn.

"Well, we're here," he said cheerfully. Although from Mattie's expression it was plain that his comment was unnecessary and also that the young girl wished she was somewhere – anywhere – else. Biting back any comment that he might make, Harm dismounted from the Lexus and walking around to the passenger side helped Catherine to the ground, while Mattie climbed out of the middle seat and stood uncertainly while she waited for Catherine to re-arrange her smock so that it hung neatly, and then as Harm tucked Catherine's arm into the crook of his elbow, he extended his other hand to Mattie, and so with Catherine on his arm and the suddenly self-conscious teenager's hand firmly clasped in his, Harm led them up the porch steps and raised his hand to knock on the doorjamb when the door flew open and sturdy blond pre-schooler erupted from the house and with an impact that nearly knocked Harm off balance, and accompanied by a despairing cry of "A J!" emanating from the depths of the house, wrapped his arms around Harm's legs and grinned hugely up into his Godfather's face.

"Hey, easy, there, big feller!" Harm exclaimed with a grin as he hastily let go of both Catherine and Mattie, and scooped A J Roberts up into his arms.

"Uncle Harm! Uncle Harm!" the excited youngster almost screamed "You came!"

"I sure did!" Harm agreed, as he carefully lowered the child to the floor. A J Roberts had grown during Harm's absences, and had certainly increased in weight, and it was almost with a pang of regret that he had to shake his head and say sorrowfully, "No, sorry big guy, you're just too big for that now!" in response to the five year-old's demand to play 'Airplanes'".

"That's quite enough of that, young man!" Harriet Roberts interrupted her son's exuberance, and eying him severely, added "And we are going to have a little talk about you opening the door when your daddy or I aren't there!"

"But it was Uncle Harm, mommy!" the child protested.

"A J!"

"Yes, ma'am," the boy replied in a crestfallen tone as he stepped back into the house.

Harriet's face lost its disapproving look and blossomed into a huge smile of welcome, "It's good to see you, sir, especially after such a long absence!"

"It's good to see you too Harriet!" Harm replied and almost tentatively opened his arm. Harriet smiled mistily and stepped forward into his embrace, hugging him as fiercely as he wrapped his arms around her, as she buried her face in his shoulder while he whispered, "And I'm in your house, off duty, and not in uniform, so for about the ten millionth time, call me 'Harm', not sir!"

Harriet released her visitor and smilingly said, "Sir... Harm… I do try!"

"I know, Harriet, I know… but you'll just have to try harder! But I'm forgetting my manners, let me intro…"

"Not here, si… uh Harm!" Harriet bestowed a happy smile on all three of her visitors, "Come in all of you, and then Harm, you can introduce your… friends to Bud and me at the same time!"

Harriet stepped back and let Harm lead the way, saying "You know where the family room is!"

A smiling Harm shepherded Catherine and Mattie into the family room where Bud was waiting, an ecstatic grin on his face as he stepped forward, his hand held out on greeting, "Sir! It is _good_ to see you again!" he unconsciously and perhaps even more enthusiastically echoed his wife's greeting.

"You too, Bud, you too!" Harm grinned as he pumped his friend's hand before standing back to snake his arm around as much of Catherine's waist as he could while looping his other arm around Mattie's shoulder and drawing her in for a hug, "And before I completely forget my manners… Bud, Harriet, I'd like you to meet my partner, Catherine Gale, and our guest, Mattie Grace… Catherine, Mattie, Bud and Harriet Roberts and," he looked around to see A J peering shyly from behind the arm of the couch, "Little A J Roberts…" he looked at Harriet, "Jimmy?"

"He's having a nap, thank God," Harriet said with a rueful smile, "You can all meet him later when he decides to inflict himself on us again!"

"Harriet!" Bud admonished her, "As if we didn't love him to bits!"

"Of course we do!" Harriet replied, "but please, sit down, all of you – Catherine, can I get you a foot-stool? Mine's still handy."

The foot stool produced, Harm sat next to Catherine, who quickly took up her favourite position, nestling against his side, her head at his shoulder. Smiling up at Harm Catherine said lightly, "You didn't have to introduce me to Bud, I remember him from the time of Angelshark investigation… and if I didn't," she added with a wicked grin at Bud, "how could I forget the minister who married us! And Harriet, I believe I owe you extra thanks as well… I understand that Bud borrowed your ring for the ceremony."

Both Bud and Harriet were reduced to red-faced embarrassed silence by Catherine's words and picking up on their confusion, she gave a soft chuckle and continued, "You know, you were lucky you got it back Harriet – it slipped on my finger easily enough, but it just didn't want to come off afterwards! It took a lot of liquid soap and persuasion to make it give up its hold!"

"Maybe it was trying to tell you something!" Harriett and Harm chorused, then looked at each other in surprise and burst out into laughter.

Catherine grinned, happy that the awkward moment was over, and nudging Harm gently in the ribs, reprimanded him gently, "One step at a time, sailor. The baby first!"

A J had slipped around the end of the couch and now stood looking gravely at Catherine. Seizing on the lull in the conversation and picking up on Catherine's mention of a baby, he asked, "Have you got a baby in your tummy? 'Cos you're fat, just like mommy was when Jimmy was in her tummy!"

A horrified Harriet gasped, "A J Roberts – go to your room!"

Catherine interrupted as A J's face started to crumple, "No… it's OK Harriet. Can I ask a special favour? Let A J stay?" She smiled at the youngster and taking his hand in hers, she said, "Yes, I do have a baby in my tummy, just like your mommy did, here, feel that, she's wriggling around trying to get comfortable…"

A J stood expressionless as he felt the baby kick and then snatched his hand away and retreated to a safe distance, bringing himself close to Mattie, who seeing his expression of distaste, stretched out a hand and gently ruffled his hair, "Hey, what's up big guy? Don't you like babies?"

"Uh-uh" A J shook his head.

"Oh, why?"

A J climbed onto the chair with Mattie, who was obliged to make a seat for him by setting him on her lap as he put his mouth to her ear and whispered, "Babies are dumb!"

Mattie looked at him seriously, "Why?" she asked.

"All they do is eat, make pooey and sleep and cry. They cry lots!" he added emphatically.

"Yeah, I guess they do at first," Mattie said understandingly, "But you know, you used to be a baby too…"

"No! I'm a big boy! And big boys aren't babies!"

"No, they're not," Mattie said with a smile, "But babies grow into big boys, and when Jimmy is a big boy you'll be able to play football with him, teach him to pitch a baseball, and teach him to do all sorts of things, and…. And share your toys with him… but until then you'll have to be his big brother and look out for him!"

A J looked dubious, "Share all my toys with him?" he asked.

Mattie nodded, "Even my special, favourite toys?" A J asked, his lower lip trembling.

"Well… maybe not your very special, favourite toys," Mattie assured him.

A J's face brightened, "'Kay… I can do that."

"Good man!" Mattie grinned. "What sort of special toys have you got, A J?"

"Jets!" He exclaimed enthusiastically, "Topcats, like Uncle Harm flies – but he flies big airplanes too!" he said in a confidential aside.

"Wow! You got jets?" Mattie asked in an impressed voice.

"Uh-huh. Do you like jets?" A J asked hopefully, his eyes fixed on Mattie's

"I sure do. Your Uncle Harm is already teaching me how to fly!"

"In a real jet?"

"No, not yet. I've got a lot of learning to do and a lot of growing up to do before I can fly a jet."

A J considered her gravely and then a huge grin split his face, "Mommy! Can I show Mat.."

"Mattie" she prompted him quietly.

"Can I show… Mattie… my airplanes?"

"Oh, A J, I'm sure Mattie doesn't want to see your airplanes. Girls don't like boys' toys."

"No, Mrs Roberts, it's OK, I really would like to see A J's airplanes if it's alright with you?"

"Mommy, pleeeease?"

Harriet surrendered, "Only if you're sure he won't be a bother to you Mattie."

"He won't, Mrs Roberts. I like him, and I do like airplanes too!" Mattie managed as A J tugged forcefully on her hands, "OK, big guy," she laughed, "I'm coming!"

The four adults watched with smiles on their faces as A J practically towed Mattie out of the family room and towards the stairs.

Harriet shook her head wonderingly, "What's the story, there, si… uh… Harm?"

"It's long and complicated Harriet…" Harm began and turning to Catherine from time to time for corroboration or to check a detail he gave Harriet and Bud a shortened version of Mattie's history, leaving out the details of her mom's death, and glossing over her father's disappearance, and ended with his hand in Catherine's as he said, "she's too bright, too lively and too independent to submit to the system… and, well, Catherine and I liked her at first sight and got on well with her, and then we found out her circumstances… so, we – Catherine and I – have applied to the courts for guardianship. And…" he faltered slightly, "that's one of the reasons I'm glad to be able to talk to you while she's not on the room. We've had to give the name of a referee to the Guardian _Ad Litem_, and I took the liberty of giving your names. You don't mind, do you?"

Bud instantly replied, "Of course not, Harm… if there's anything we can do to help, isn't that right Sweetie!"

Harriet looked less certain for few moments until she became aware that all eyes were upon her when she flashed a somewhat uncertain smile and hurriedly endorsed Bud's claim, "Of course!" she declared.

"Uh… there's more too, I'm afraid…" Harm added.

"Oh?" Bud asked as Harriet cocked her head inquiringly.

"Yeah… as well as vouching for us to the Guardian… would you be prepared to act as a character witness at the hearing?"

Bud and Harriett exchanged glances, "Sure!" Bud replied, while Harriet nodded in concurrence.

"She seems like a nice kid, smart too – and she's certainly won one heart since she's been here!" Harriett smiled, "She was so good with A J, it's hard to believe that she hasn't got any little brothers or sisters!"

"No, she's an only child," agreed Harm, "but I believe that she's got a couple of years baby-sitting experience under her belt!"

Harriet nodded, "And that brings us nicely to you, Catherine… if you don't mind me asking…"

"Harriett!" a horrified Bud interrupted as his loving wife, sparing him a quick exasperated glance, continued remorselessly, "When are you due?"

Bud, who had feared that Harriet had meant to inquire into the how, why, where and when of Harm and Catherine's relationship, breathed a silent sigh of relief, especially as Catherine showed no signs of taking offence and merely smiled contentedly as she smoothed a hand over her bump, "Just over four weeks," she replied placidly, "and I can't wait!"

"Oh… I know!" Harriett agreed emphatically, "It's so great when you get to hold your baby for the first time. It's an experience like nothing else!"

"So I've been told," smiled Catherine, "But I'm also looking forward to seeing my feet again, being able to wax my legs, being able to tie my own shoes – and to finally be able to have an occasional glass of wine!"

Harriet looked horrified, but then, as had so many before, realised that she'd been fooled by Catherine's dry sense of humour, and sitting back in her chair, she grinned, and complained, "You are bad!"

Harm and Bud chuckled at the by-play, and then Bud brought to remember his duties as a host, blanched slightly and asked, "And talking of glasses of wine, can I get everyone a drink? We've got wine to go with lunch, but there's tea or coffee, or we got beer, water, soda and iced tea in the 'fridge…" he looked inquiringly at Catherine.

"An iced tea would be good, thank you," she smiled.

"Harm?"

Harm looked at Catherine, "Would you mind?"

"No, you go ahead… I'll drive us home."

"Thanks, sweetheart! A beer for me please Bud."

Bud nodded and turned to look at Harriet, "Iced tea for me too, please, Bud."

As Bud rose to go into the kitchen Harm followed him. As they entered the kitchen Bud looked at his former mentor and with a backward jerk of his head asked, "Do you think that's wise – leaving the two of them alone like that?"

"Have a little pity on Harriet, Bud. She's being eaten alive by curiosity, give her a chance to ask the questions that she won't while you or I are in the room!"

Bud grinned, "She's not A J, Harm!"

Harm stopped, "Bud… what does that mean?" he asked a puzzled expression settling on his face.

"Only that you're not her Godfather, so you shouldn't spoil her like that!" Bud grinned.

Harm grinned in return, "I'll try to remember that!" he promised.

Left alone with her target in the family room, Harriet began tentatively enough, "So… how did you and Harm get involved? Oh, I know you faced off at the Angelshark hearing, and of course about the fake wedding… but…"

"Oh, we didn't get involved, as you put it, then; in fact we barely saw each other, except in passing for months…"

"Yes, I know you work for 'the State Department' and dating a co-worker can be difficult…"

"But you and Bud managed it." Catherine said trying to deflect what she felt sure was coming.

"Oh, Bud and I weren't working together when we started dating, and we very nearly didn't get our act together at all, it was only due to a plan that Harm and the Colonel cooked up between them… Is there something wrong?" she asked as a shadow passed over Catherine's face.

"No, no… there's nothing wrong," Catherine assured her, "but do you mind me speaking plainly?"

"I hope not."

"Well… It's Harm and Mac… like you, when I first met them, I was immediately aware of a very strong undercurrent between them, a mutual attraction that I felt they were both fighting to deny. They had a… a… Oh, I don't know, an inner spark each. But when Harm and I met up again, just after he left the Company, his spark had gone. I don't know what happened between him and Mac – naturally, he won't tell me – but he seemed so… defeated, like he'd given up on everything. Then we started to… date, I suppose is the word, and he started flying for Mattie, and it seemed that he was getting his old spark back. I know that the admiral offered to re-instate him, but Harm turned him down. He said he couldn't serve under him again, and I do know, that even with the old admiral gone from JAG, he refused to return there while Mac was still in her billet."

Harriet's eyes brimmed with unshed tears that she hastily blotted with a Kleenex, "Oh, that is so sad, considering what might have been… Oh! I'm sorry! That is so unfair of me to say that to you, but from what I've seen today, Harm's spark is back in full measure, and that must be down to you!"

"Well, me, Mattie or Elizabeth!" Catherine protested with a chuckle, "I'm not sure which one of us he loves the most!"

"Catherine!" Harriett didn't know whether to be shocked or amused, and then another thought struck, "Who's Elizabeth?"

Catherine grinned as she once again stroked her swollen stomach, "This young lady in here; this is our daughter, Elizabeth Patricia, for my Grandmother, and for Harm's Mom."

"So… Elizabeth is the product of the honeymoon after the wedding that never was?" Harriet asked her face alive with curiosity.

"No… not really. Nothing about this whole situation is explained that easily!" Catherine chuckled.

"So…?" Harriet pressed on.

Catherine's face still held her smile as she said gently but firmly, "I shall have to ask your pardon now, Harriet, but I think, for the moment that I shan't say anymore." Hoping that her smile robbed her words of offence, she continued, "You see, I don't know you very well, and a girl's got to have some secrets after all; maybe a little way down the road, I'll be able to share more fully. I hope you understand?"

Harriet fought to keep the disappointment out of her face and voice as she replied, "Of course I understand! I can't help feeling just a little bit anxious, though; you see Harm has been such a good friend to Bud and me for such a long time, that I almost feel as if he's one of the family, and I just want to make sure he's OK, and doesn't get hurt again. Oh dear, that sounds so disloyal to Mac, and I don't mean to be! She is A J's Godmother, and if Harm and Mac aren't talking it's going to make life just a little bit awkward at times!"

Catherine shook her head indulgently, "Harm speaks very highly of your organisational abilities, you know, Harriet, and I'm sure you'll be able to sort things out!"

Harriet smiled weakly in acknowledgement as Bud and Harm re-entered the room, having judged that Harriet had had more than enough time to pump Catherine for information, or in Bud's words, "It's time to rescue Catherine from interrogation!"

The drinks distributed and Bud and Harm having settled themselves back into their seats, Harriet took a sip of her drink and looked at Harm, "Catherine was just telling me that you don't want to go back to JAG?" she said brightly.

Bud nearly choked on a mouthful of beer and spluttered incoherently in protest at his wife's bluntness, but was waved into silence by Harm, who returned Harriet's gaze and replied evenly, "That's true. After the admiral told me to go wrestle alligators, on top of everything that happened since Loren Singer's death, I just couldn't serve under him again. I felt he had sold me out – and worse, he had abandoned Mac – and I'd always be looking over my shoulder, wondering when he was going to cut me loose again. And…" he looked slightly uncomfortable, "after the mess that Mac and I made of our friendship in Paraguay – and we were both to blame for that – I just don't see us being able to work together for a good while. It's like I told her the other day, the wounds we dealt each other this time are too raw and too deep to heal quickly, and it's best that we give ourselves time to develop scar tissue. So for the moment, the less contact we have the better, and maybe a bit further down the road we can get back to a place where we can share a coffee or a joke without wanting to hurt the other again."

Harriet leaned forward, her eyes again suspiciously moist, as she laid a sympathetic hand on Harm's knee, "I hope so, Harm, I really hope so. Despite your ups and downs, you and Mac have always been such good friends, it would be so wrong to lose that… for both of you!"

Bud hastened to intervene before the scene became too emotional, "OK, Harm. It's time to come clean! I've been piecing together the evidence. One: When you phoned the other day, you didn't insist on us not calling you 'sir'. Two: You are buying a house. That argues that you have a steady income – one that's considerably more than you could earn crop-dusting. Three: You knew about my promotion almost before I had time to sew the half-ring on my sleeve. All these suggest that you're back in uniform!"

Harm looped his arm around Catherine's shoulder and gave her a gentle squeeze, "Nicely summed up, counsellor," he grinned. "Yes, I'm back in uniform, the SecNav reinstated me a couple of weeks ago and I'm working directly for him at the Pentagon, as his chief military legal advisor for Maritime Law, International law and Military Law!"

Bud's grin was so wide that the ends threatened to meet at the back of his head, and he enthused, "Well done sir! Congratulations!" while Harriet's shriek of pleasure threatened to roust out every pigeon in DC and all the states surrounding the capital.

So loud was her yell that the thudding of feet was heard on the stairs and Mattie, slightly red-faced and breathless from the weight of A J on her hip appeared at the door, her face creased in concern, "What's wrong?" she half-gasped.

"Nothing, nothing at all, Squirt," Harm reassured her.

"Mattie," Bud interrupted, "Put him down! He's far too heavy for you! Harm's right, there's no need for concern; it's just Harriet's way of calling us all to the table!"

"Oh, Lord, yes!" His red-faced wife agreed, "Come along everyone!"

A J stood four-square, his lower lip pursed in a pout, "Mattie sit next to me!" he demanded.

Bud raised an eyebrow, "'Mattie sit next to me' what?" he asked.

A J looked down and shuffled his feet in embarrassment before looking up at his father, "Please?" he asked.

The four adults exchanged glances and to Mattie's confusion burst into laughter, "What?" she demanded suspiciously.

"Nothing, Kiddo," a still-smiling Harm replied, "It's just that it looks like you've just gained you first beau!"

"Yeah, right!" a now furiously blushing Mattie scoffed, as she fought to keep her lips from twitching in a smile!


	24. Chapter 24

**24**

"You going to be alright on your own today, kiddo?" Harm looked across the breakfast table at a still-sleep-crumpled Mattie.

"Uh… sure," the teenager replied, more interested in the contents of her coffee cup – the result of a recent victory over Harm – than in making conversation this early in the morning.

"It's not going to be like in Georgetown," Harm persisted, "there aren't any shops, or malls in walking distance, if you get bored with being alone."

Mattie roused herself enough to glower at him, "With all my unpacking and getting my bedroom just how I want it, I won't have time to be bored," she said flatly, "And of course, there's the list of chores Catherine has left me!" she added in an aggrieved voice.

Harm looked at Catherine and raised an interrogative eyebrow. "Just one or two jobs that I'd like done today," she said reasonably, "Like finishing putting the books back on the bookshelves… you know, jobs that we should have done yesterday if we hadn't been so late back from Bud and Harriett's."

Both Harm and Mattie after staring at each other resolutely refused to meet Catherine's eye, and wisely stayed silent. It had been Harm's quick acceptance of Harriett's offer to stay on for dinner, seconded by Mattie and supported by A J, that had resulted in the trio not returning to their new home until well after twenty one hundred hours, by which time, all were too tired to do anything other than shower and collapse into bed, knowing all too well that their alarms would be blasting them out of those self-same beds at oh five thirty hours.

Catherine sat back in her chair, stretching her back and exulting silently in her victory. She was by no means as annoyed as she pretended and was acutely concerned that without one or two tasks for Mattie to complete to a deadline, that the teenager would indeed become bored. Draining her mug, she placed it on her plate, turned to Harm and said, "A hand here, please?"

Harm immediately stood, his braced forearm giving Catherine a dependable support as she levered herself to her feet. "You about ready to go?" he asked concernedly, "You don't really need to go swimming anymore, do you?"

Catherine gave him a look of pure exasperation, "Harm, we've talked this subject out! Even if I don't 'need' to go swimming, I still 'want' to go! When I feel it's the right time, then I will decide to stop swimming! Got it?"

"Got it," Harm confirmed, and then as Catherine made to speak again he held up a hand to prevent her, "And I know you're not made of glass, and that you're pregnant not sick, but you have to let me worry from time to time."

Catherine fumed silently for a few moments, but her natural sense of justice overcame her flash of ill-temper, and she blew out her breath in a long sigh, "I know, I know… but sometimes… it all gets on top of me, and it feels like you're suffocating me!"

"I'll try to do better, OK?" Harm asked with a smile as he opened his arms to her.

Catherine stepped into his embrace and laid her head in the hollow of his shoulder, "OK, I'll accept that as an apology and a plea for forgiveness," she told him with the hint of a smile just tweaking the corners of her mouth.

"Did it work?" Harm asked, accompanying his words with a sad puppy expression, as he tilted Catherine's face upwards with a gentle finger.

"Oh, alright then, yes, it did! You're forgiven!"

Mattie who had been sitting white-faced in the expectation of an outburst of violent temper and a raging argument like those she had witnessed on all too many occasions between her mother and her father, exhaled quietly, and then as Harm and Catherine kissed, she found further relief from the tension that had gripped her, "Guys! How many times do I have to tell you to get a room, or at least stop doing that at breakfast time?"

Harm and Catherine turned to face the now blushing teen, kept their arms around each other's waist, "Like the man said," Catherine told her with a broad grin, "Get used to it, 'cos we ain't planning on stopping for a long time yet!"

Mattie's answering "Eeewww!" was greeted with further laughter, and the teenager made a pretence of ignoring Harm and Mattie as she started to gather the breakfast dishes together.

Catherine twinkled up at Harm, "We are being ostracised!"

"We are indeed," he smiled, "so if we aren't going to get any attention at home, what say we go wow them at the pool!"

Mattie continued to studiously ignore the two as they gathered briefcases and Harm's cover, but unbent enough to turn and grin as Harm opened the front door and called out, "OK, we're gone. Mats! See you this evening!"

Mattie turned and grinned, raising a suds-covered hand in a half-salute, "OK, you two, see you later," and then her grin broadened as she added "just so long as you don't get arrested for offending public decency!"

xxiv-xxiv-xxiv-xxiv-xxiv

Harm watched as Catherine's Malibu left the swim club parking lot, a vertical crease appearing between his eyebrows. True, she had swum with her usual vigour and display of expertise, but it had taken a major effort by both of them to get her up the pool ladder once she had finished her laps, and then it had seemed a long time before she had recovered her breath. However, she had emerged freshly showered and fragrant from the locker room with a half-smile on her face and not the slightest sign of stress on her face.

Only partly reassured it had taken Harm a major effort of will not to ask Catherine if she was feeling alright, but his silence was appreciated by her, and as they had walked out into the parking lot, Catherine hand taken his arm in her hand and rubbed her cheek against his upper arm, "Thanks for not bombarding with me questions, Harm. I know you're worried, and I love you for it, but I just need to decide things for myself."

As they reached their cars, parked next to each other, Harm turned to face her, taking both her hands in his own, "Hey, if you love me, then everything's OK. I trust you to make the right decisions, even when I don't particularly like what you decide." He paused for a heartbeat or two and then a grin on his lips he added, "Mind you, although I'm from California, not Missouri, just you saying that you love me isn't particularly proof…"

Catherine giggled, "Well, Mister, if you were from Missouri, then I could maybe show you…"

"Y'know, that might just work on California boys too…" Harm suggested hopefully.

"Yeah… I think it just might," Catherine replied, her hands reaching up to link at the nape of Harm's neck, and drawing his head down to a level where she could kiss him without having to stand on her toes.

"Wow," Harm breathed as they broke off the kiss, "Just wow!"

"'Wow'?" Catherine mocked him gently, "is that all you can say?"

"No… but I was just thinking it's a damn good job you didn't kiss me like that at home, or I'd have dragged you straight back upstairs, and we both would have been late for work!"

Catherine relaxed back against the support of his hands spread comfortingly across the small of her back, "H'mm… I like the sound of that… Home!" she added hurriedly as she saw the gleam that sprang to Harm's eyes.

But you don't like the other idea?" Harm teased her.

"Oh, I do, I do," Catherine assured him fervently, "But I liked the idea of not being late for work just slightly more. Why do you think I didn't kiss you like that at home?" she finished, her eye brimming with amusement.

"H'mm… just as well," Harm agreed mournfully, "I do have a lot of 'important' stuff to do today."

Catherine's amusement broke into a full laugh, attracting the attention of other early morning swimmers crossing the parking lot, "I suppose I asked for that!" she exclaimed.

"I reckon you did!" Harm agreed with a smile as he opened the Malibu's door for her, "But hold on to that thought until this evening!"

"Promises, promises!" Catherine mocked him as she blew him a last kiss before he closed the door and she started her car's engine.

xxiv-xxiv-xxiv-xxiv-xxiv

Harm cast a concerned glance at his watch as he signed in at the CP, the banter with Catherine had delayed him just long enough for him to get caught up in the grid-lock that was the Pentagon's southern parking lot at the start of duty hours, and although he had been teasing her, it was true that he had a full day ahead of him, and he could ill-afford to be late.

Consequently his walk along the hallways was just about on the hurried side of brisk, and he sailed into the outer office under a full spread of canvas, almost surprising Legalman Barker into dropping the carafe of freshly-brewed coffee as she emerged from the store closet that had been transformed into a mini kitchenette.

"Good morning, sir!" Barker almost yelped as she tried to come to a brace while desperately looking for somewhere to set down the coffee.

"'Morning, Barker!" Harm returned the greeting with a half-smile, "Never mind about that, but if that is freshly brewed coffee, then I'll gladly take a cup as soon as you can! Anyone else in yet?"

"Commander Coleman's in her office, sir."

"Yes, of course she is," Harm murmured to himself.

"Sir?" a puzzled Barker asked, she'd heard the sound, but not the words.

"Oh… nothing Barker, nothing… Now," he said as he opened his office door, "We're expecting two new members of staff this morning, firstly, your replacement, Legalman One Coates, and secondly Lieutenant Commander Bellingham – you said she called in on Friday?"

"Yes, sir."

Harm nodded, "Good, so you'll have to be ready to act as a runner this morning. Commander Bellingham knows how to find us, obviously, but Coates will need guiding. I take it that the necessary cra… uh… paperwork has been lodged at the CP, so they won't send her away?"

"Yes, sir!" It sounded very much as if Barker wanted to add an 'of course', but to do so would be risking a write up for insubordination.

Harm's smile widened, "Good, excellent! Now there's only one thing outstanding!"

"Sir?"

"My coffee, Barker, my coffee!"

"Sir! Yes, sir!" the young yeoman grinned back at him.

Safely installed behind his desk and with a mug of Barker's coffee steaming gently in front of him, Harm turned back to the UN's Convention on Piracy and started to re-read it, this time looking for certain passages that had caught his eye on his previous skim through, and making notes as he went through them more slowly and more carefully, in order to prepare a briefing for the SecNav looking at possible solutions to the problem that wouldn't run afoul of international law. At one end of the scale was the example of the Royal Dutch Navy frigate captain who had taken prisoner some dozen or so of the enterprising Somalis, sunk their boats and then using his ship's boats set them ashore a half-day's walk from the nearest town. At the other end of the scale was the Turkish captain, who again taking prisoners, had summarily had them hanged from his ship's mast. Neither option was, in Harm's opinion, particularly desirable, and although he had more or less decided to recommend that such pirates be treated as irregular enemy combatants, his sympathies tended towards the choice made by the Turk.

Almost half an hour into his reading the intercom's persistent buzz broke his concentration, "Yes, Barker?"

"CP just called, sir. Coates has arrived, so I'm off to get her!"

"OK, thanks, Barker." Harm sat back and closed the paperwork on his desk, a pleased smile of anticipation on his face. Although he would never have initiated replacing Barker with Jen Coates, Barker's request for a change of billet had opened the door for him, and the sudden rush of pleasant anticipation at the news that she had arrived took him somewhat by surprise. But he was looking forward to working with her again. He had missed not only her quiet efficiency but also her mischievous sense of humour and the hidden dimple in her right cheek that her unrestrained smile revealed.

It wasn't many minutes later that a sharp double rap on his office door elicited from him a crisp, "Enter!"

The door opened to reveal a grinning Barker, "Petty Officer Legalman Class One Coates, sir!"

"Send her in please, Barker!" Harm requested as he strove to keep a straight face.

Jennifer Coates marched into his office as Barker closed the door behind her. "Legalman One Coates reporting as ordered, sir!" she said crisply.

"You have our orders with you Legalman?"

"Yes, sir!" Jen brought a file folder from under her left arm and handed to Harm.

"Thank you!" Harm didn't bother to read the orders; he knew exactly what they contained. Instead he sat down and leaned against the back of his chair. "Take a seat, Coates. I'm very glad to have you on board!"

Jen sat, knees primly together and hands folded in her lap, "Thank you, sir! But you can't be any happier than I am to be here! Permission to speak freely, sir?"

Harm managed a rueful grin, Jen's speaking freely often amounted to a reproach, and for the life of him he couldn't think of anything he had done to deserve Jen's wrath, but… "Go ahead," he invited her.

Strangely Jen seemed to be overcome with embarrassment, "Sir, I am grateful for this new opportunity, and I'm really looking forward to working with you again… but I am slightly surprised you should want me…"

Harm straightened in surprise, "What on earth? Jen, why wouldn't I want the best Legalman I could possibly get, not to mention one to whom we all owe so much?"

Jen blushed furiously, "Sir, I didn't ever do anything that anyone else wouldn't have done! And… and… after my testimony at your court-martial… it felt like that I was stabbing you in the back, and after you'd done so much for me…"

"Nonsense, Jen!" Harm snapped, "You were manoeuvred into testifying the way you did by a very clever attorney, and you answered him truthfully – the only thing you could have done." Harm could see that the young woman was still not convinced and still worried at how near her testimony had come to convicting him of Loren Singer's murder. "In fact, as I recall it, you looked to me for guidance before answering, and I told you to tell the truth as you saw it. In fact," he continued kindly, "you may have done me a huge favour. I won't deny that I was furious with Lieutenant Singer that night, but your testimony made me sit down and consider whether I really could use violence towards a woman. I am relieved to say that I don't believe I could, but I saw in your eyes the memory of the fear of my anger that night, and that has made me resolve that I will never, ever cause any other woman to feel that fear, and I am so very sorry that I subjected you to it."

Jen's eyes opened wide in astonishment, "Sir, I… I… I was never really afraid of you, and it was just a fleeting second. I worked with Lieutenant Singer after Bud, I mean Lieutenant Roberts, was injured, and I know just how annoying she could be!"

"It's OK, Jen, really. And anyway, it's all in the past, so as far as I'm concerned, we're still friends, OK?"

"Yes, sir. Thank you."

"OK, now onto more current matters. You will act as yeoman for all three officers in these offices, that will be myself, Lieutenant Commander Bellingham – who is also due to arrive today and Major Sheddan, Marine Corps, both of whom are also JAGs. But you are my Legalman, this means you answer to me, but Jen, it doesn't give you liberty to be insubordinate to the other officers, understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. As you will find out from Barker the whole of the Navy JAG Corps is about to receive a huge shake up. Nothing of what you see or hear in this office is to be discussed outside it. It's not classified information, but it is sensitive information dealing with people's careers. This all to happen over the next three and a half months, so be prepared to have to work back some evenings on very short notice, and the same at weekends. So make sure your boyfriend knows this!"

"Not a problem, sir," Jen smiled with just a hint of wistfulness, "No boyfriend."

Harm shook his head in dismay, "Jen, don't go making the same mistakes I've made. Don't let your life slip by you while you concentrate on your career!"

"I'll try not to let that happen, sir!"

Harm nodded, "OK then. I suggest you get together with Barker; you've got until secure on Friday to complete your handover/takeover. Dismissed!"

Jen came to her feet and assumed the position of attention, "Aye, aye, sir!" she rapped out, paused for two seconds and then about-faced and marched to the door, closing it behind her with a soft click.

Barely, however, had she closed the door when again came Barker's peremptory knock. Harm closed the file he had only just opened and called out "Enter!"

"Lieutenant Commander Bellingham to see you, sir!" Barker announced.

"Thank you, Barker. Ask the Commander to step in please," Harm replied, rising from his chair to greet his new colleague, as she entered hot on the heels of his last words.

Lydia Bellingham was in her mid-thirties, of medium height and with a face and figure generally reckoned to be attractive. Her brunette hair was pulled back in a tight bun and she had an air of confidence about her that not only reassured Harm, but added to her attractiveness.

"Lieutenant Commander Bellingham, reporting as ordered, sir!"

"Good morning, Commander. I'm Harmon Rabb. Won't you please take a seat?"

Lydia paused, a brown envelope in her hand and her arm half-extended across the desk, "You don't want to see my orders, sir?" she asked, the surprise in her voice evident.

"No real need to," Harm said, indicating with a sweep of his hand that she should sit, "I drafted them!"

Lydia nodded as she obeyed his unspoken instructions, but if anything Harm's comment had further confused rather than enlightened her. "You drafted them, sir?"

"Yes. It came to the SecNav's notice that too many JAGs had been too long in their billets, and he tasked me with resolving certain issues. The officer you are taking over from in this office is one of the JAGs who has been too long in one billet, as you are. In her case she's too settled here and needs to move. In your case you have been too long at sea without a shore billet, and for an attorney with your credentials and stuck in the same billet I am surprised that you hadn't separated at least a couple of years ago. Running a shipboard LSO and dealing with article fifteens can't have been very fulfilling, although you seem to have had a deal of exposure to maritime and international law," Harm grinned, "And I could really do with some help on those fronts!"

Lydia nodded, feeling slightly relieved, "I won't argue about the lack of fulfilment as a ship's JAG, but as a Fleet JAG, the work was rewarding, and I enjoyed shipboard life!"

"Agreed, it's not without its attractions, but you are entering the zone for O-5 this year, and you need to get some variety on your record. Your fitreps as ship and fleet Jag are outstanding, but you need to get some staff experience under your belt, and you need to sharpen your skills as a litigator. I see you haven't set foot in a courtroom for quite some time."

Lydia nodded, "That's true, sir. But to be quite honest, I don't miss litigation at all."

"Well, I'm not going to throw you under a bus as far as that is concerned. I have in mind for you to work on maritime law and international law more or less full time, as well as take over, temporarily, Faith Coleman's work load. She's heavily involved in checking records of proceedings looking for procedural errors when a case comes up for appeal. In the future that aspect of her duties will be taken over by another attorney who is en route here, but until he arrives, you're it. Now, can I answer any questions that you might have?"

Lydia stood, "No sir, not at the moment, so by your leave, I'd like to get to grips with my new duties!"

"Of course; come with me and I'll introduce you to Faith Coleman."

Harm returned to his desk some ten minutes later feeling near frozen solid as the atmosphere in Faith Coleman's office had plummeted when he introduced Faith to the officer by whom she was being replaced. "Oh, that went well!" he told himself cynically as he settled down for the third time that morning to make notes on the impact of international law on Somali and Indonesian piracy.

xxiv-xxiv-xxiv-xxiv-xxiv

Catherine groaned silently, and surreptitiously eased a hand to the small of her back and gently rubbed at the ache. She had been feeling vaguely ill at ease ever since she had arrived at work this morning, and her mood had not been improved by being summoned away from her desk to attend a briefing on an upcoming covert operation in a yet to be named Latin American Country, where it seemed that due to the participation in money laundering by the cartels, the line between the war on drugs and the war on terrorism was becoming blurred.

Catherine's role was to take note of any elements of the plan that might contravene international law and to highlight them at the end of the briefing. Her physical discomfort was exacerbated by her distaste for the briefing officer, and presumably the author of the plan. She had never been a great fan of Clayton Webb in fact, and perversely, the only time she had felt any empathy towards him was when he torpedoed the Angelshark case by turning over, quite illegally, a classified video tape to Harmon Rabb. That had cost him a posting to Latin America, which had in turn led to the Sadik Fahd disaster in Paraguay, and to Harm's hiring by and eventual firing from the Company. So to add to her disdain for Webb's professional standards she had a personal reason for despising the dapper spy.

At last, she thought, as Webb's pompous voice ceased its monotone droning and he asked, "Are there any questions?"

Catherine looked up, "Yes, I have a question: Does the country in which you are planning to undertake this operation have any knowledge of it?"

"No. The country in question has too many corrupt politicians suspected of having friendly contacts with the cartels. It has been decided that in order to maintain mission security, the government of that country do not have a need to know," Webb replied smugly.

Catherine winced, but for once she was not sure if it was because of her back-ache or because of the glibness and transparent falsity of Webb's claims. "Let me get this straight, Webb," her omission of the honorific 'Mister' did not go unnoticed by either Webb or the DDCI, "You have not informed the foreign government of your plan, which involves not only company operatives, but insertion and exfiltration involving members of the armed forces?"

"As I said, Miss Gale," Webb's use of her title was laden with sarcasm, "They do not have a need to know!"

Catherine nodded, and immediately wished she hadn't as her abused back muscles set up a silent shriek of protest, "In that case Webb, from a legal standpoint you are in fact initiating an act of war against a country with which the USA is not presently at war. I hope that at least the country in question is disposed to be friendly to the United States?"

"Thank you for airing your concerns, Miss Gale, your comments have been noted," Webb said airily, but his tone of voice betrayed a growing irritation.

Catherine's face went white with anger at Webb's casual dismissal of her concerns. "If that is all that you think my input is worth, then I see no need to waste any more of my time!" she snapped, and thankful for the arms of the chair in which she sat she levered herself to her feet, but was forced to stop for a second or two as her back sent another pain signal shooting to her brain. Drawing a breath, she waved off any suggestion of help from two other agents in the room, and letting herself out of the door, she commenced the long distance waddle back to the legal section.

Twice during her trek she was forced to stop and rest one hand leaning against the wall as new painful spasms caused her to gasp for breath. Maybe Harm was right, she mused as she at last lowered herself gingerly into her own, well-cushioned chair. Maybe it was time to give up on the swimming, she had had to put a lot of effort into getting out the pool this morning, and it seemed like she had pulled a muscle or two in her back in doing so. Not that she would tell Harm that; although he would be too gentlemanly to say "I told you so" – or at least she thought he would be – it was a pretty safe bet that he'd be thinking it!

Barely had Catherine settled in her chair when a shift in her position as she tried to get comfortable not only caused another sharp pain in her back, but brought to her the awareness that she now needed to get to the bathroom – quickly. Groaning with frustration and gasping with pain as another spasm hit as she struggled out of her chair, Catherine slowly rose to her feet, and tentatively waddled across to the door to the outer office, "Mae, hold any calls for the next five minutes," she said, "Little madam here," she stroked her bump, "has decided to play football with my bladder again!"

Mae, Catherine's secretary, herself the mother of a very lively two-year-old winced in sympathy as she remembered the all too frequent bathroom breaks she had had to take during her last month of pregnancy. "Go ahead, Catherine, take your time. I'll hold all the calls in the world until you're ready to take them!"

Catherine managed a grateful smile, "Thanks, Mae! I don't what I'd do without you!"

Mae watched her leave the office, before she shook her head and smiled fondly, "You'd manage just fine without me, Catherine Gale, you're just too damn' stubborn not to!"

It was less than ten minutes later that Catherine returned to the office, "I'm getting tired of this!" she grumbled to Mae, "It seems that every five minutes or so, I'm rushing to the bathroom. Four times last night I had to go, and now I think I've pulled a muscle in my back climbing out of the pool this morning!"

"Catherine! Don't tell me you're still swimming every morning!" a shocked Mae answered.

Catherine bit her tongue in an effort not to scream at her secretary, "please, Mae, don't you start; it's bad enough having Harm on my case and – Ow!"

Catherine went white and her knees buckled as a stab of pain, far more severe than any that had gone before lanced its way from her lumbar region down to her lower abdomen, at the same time as a gush of fluid cascaded down her legs to puddle on the office floor.

Catherine straightened, and shakily said, "Mae… I think… I think…"

Mae was around her desk in a flash, "It's OK, Catherine, your water's just broken, take it easy, it's all perfectly natural…"

"I know that!" Catherine snapped, "but it's too soon! She's not due for another month!"

"OK, OK, calm down. We've got to get you to your OB. Shall I call your partner?"

"Yes. No! You can drive me! Use my car! Here give me the phone!" Punching in the number Catherine took the opportunity to regain control of her voice as she waited for the pick-up at the other end.

"_Rabb residence, hi,_" the sound of Mattie's cheerful voice was like music in Catherine's ear and also helped to calm her down further.

"Hi Kiddo, it's me. Now listen carefully, please, and don't start screaming or panicking, OK?"

"_Is something wrong, Catherine_?" Mattie now sounded less cheerful and more worried.

"No, nothing's wrong Matts, it's just that things are moving along a little ahead of schedule. My water's just broke, and I'm going to go direct to Kresge from here. I want you to go up to our bedroom, and in my closet, on the floor, is a small blue suitcase. I want you to get hold of it and sit tight. I'm going to call Harm now, and get him to collect it on his way to Pimmett Hills. OK? Got it?"

Mattie gulped and when she spoke this time, Catherine could hear the nervous excitement in her voice, "_OK Catherine, got it. And Catherine, good luck and remember that I love you_!"

"Yeah, I love you too, Matts. See you soon!"

Catherine hung up and grabbed her purse, retrieved from her office by Mae while she was talking to Mattie, and rummaged for her cell 'phone. Hitting the first button on the speed dial menu she fretted while Harm's 'phone rang, at last, after what seemed an age his voice sounded in her ear, "_Hey sweetheart, what did I forget_?"

Catherine smiled mistily, it was so like him! "Nothing, Harm, you've forgotten nothing. But I do have a job for you. I need you to go home right now, and collect my hospital suitcase from Mattie…"

"_Catherine, what's wrong_?" A suddenly panicked Harm shouted.

"Nothing's wrong, Harm. It's just that our daughter has decided to make an early appearance. Mae is going to take me direct to Kresge from Langley, so I'll see you there, OK?"

"_Are you sure? It's too early!"_

"Yes, I'm sure. My water's broke, I'm not in any pain, and it seems that babies have their own schedule!"

"_Dammit, Catherine, I should be there with you!"_

"You will be, Harm, you will be. I'll see you at Kresge, but don't forget my suitcase!"

"_I won't! I'm leaving now_!"

xxiv-xxiv-xxiv-xxiv-xxiv

Coates and Barker had heard Harm's one shout and raised their heads from their work looking at each questioningly but saw no answer in the other's face. But before they could voice any of their surprise, Harm's office door flew open and a harassed-looking commander, cover and briefcase in one hand while he fumbled for his keys with the other rapped, "Water's broke! Tell Commander Bellingham, I'm gone!" and without a further word he hit the hallway at an almost run leaving two very much astonished young women staring after him, open-mouthed.

Barker blinked and looked at Jen, "Water's broke?" she echoed but making it a question.

"That's what I thought he said," a puzzled Jen confirmed, "But I didn't even know he was married… or had partner… or a girlfriend… or whatever."

"Well, there's been a Miss Grace called him a few times, and I heard him tell her that he loved her, but she seemed awful young…"

Jen shook her head, "No… that's not his style. The only woman I've seen him interested in was older than that; Colonel MacKenzie… and she blew him off for a dumb-ass sp… special assistant in the State department," Jen hurriedly amended her description of Clayton Webb. Even if he was the lowest known form of animal life in Jen's opinion, Barker didn't need to know that he was a CIA agent.

Something in Jen's voice and face caught Barker's notice, and she asked sympathetically, "You too, huh?"

Jen blushed fire appliance red and retorted, "No... of course not. And anyway… I… I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Oh, don't worry about it, Coates, you're in good company! I've had a bit of a crush on him ever since Commander Manetti introduced me to him!"

"Don't be dumb Barker! Of course I don't have a crush on him – he's an officer!"

Barker gave Jen a sideways glance and other than a lazily drawled, "Yeah, riiight!" decided to let the matter drop and turning back to the manpower spread-sheet, she continued to brief Jen on what was proposed, what had been completed, what was in progress, and what remained to be started.

xxiv-xxiv-xxiv-xxiv-xxiv

Harm, even years later, could never remember the drive from the Pentagon to the house on Woodford Road, but judging by the short amount of elapsed time between leaving his office and arriving home, he must have severely bent, if not outright broken, practically every traffic ordinance on the state books.

Even so, he was not quick enough for Mattie who had been almost dancing on the steps in an agony of impatience and almost before he had brought the Lexus to a full halt, she had wrenched open the passenger door, thrown Catherine's suitcase onto the middle seat and had climbed into the front passenger seat.

It hadn't occurred to Harm that Mattie would be going to the hospital too, and for a moment he sat slack-jawed trying to get his thoughts together and come up with a reason why she shouldn't be with him and Catherine at this moment.

The copper-haired teen stared at him in exasperation and said fiercely, "We can argue about this later, Harm, if we have to, but right now, can we just get going!"

"Whu…? Oh… yes! Of course!" Harm engaged drive and the Lexus peeled away from the kerb, leaving a twin set of long burnt rubber marks on the asphalt. Mattie gripped her seat belt with one hand and the door handle with the other, so tightly that her knuckles shone white. Drawing a deep breath, despite her alarm, she asked calmly, "Harm, did you drive all the way up from Arlington like this?"

Harm had to think, his brow furrowed as he tried and failed to remember, "Uh… I guess so," he admitted at length.

"Yeah, well, it might be a good idea if you slowed down, just a tad. After all, we're supposed to be visiting Catherine in the Maternity Ward, we haven't planned for her to come and visit us in ER! Besides, if you keep driving like this you're gonna get stopped by the cops, and then you'll get a ticket, and we'll lose time while you sort it out!"

Mattie's seemingly unconcerned tone of voice did as much to calm down Harm as her words. And it was with a sense of deep relief that she saw him relax his grip on the wheel and felt the Lexus decelerate as he eased his foot off the gas pedal.

After only a few minutes, however, Mattie again felt the car's speed increase and in a further effort to restore Harm to his normal competent manner of driving, she asked "Did Catherine tell you what happened?"

"Umm… yeah, her water broke, and her secretary's taking her to Kresge in Catherine's Malibu. But it's too early Mattie! She said only yesterday that she had another four weeks to go!"

"Harm, I'm no expert, but in health ed, they told us that anywhere between thirty eight and forty weeks is normal, but that perfectly healthy births can, and do happen, outside those time brackets." Without really giving him time to absorb what she had just told him, Mattie went on with her hastily formed plan to distract him from dwelling on any imagined dangers that Catherine and Elizabeth might possibly face.

"Have you told anyone else?" she asked.

"Uh… yeah, Coates and Barker," Harm answered, happy to give at least one positive answer.

"No," Mattie said patiently, "I mean people like your Mom and Dad, and maybe Harriett and or Bud?"

"Oh, hell! No, I haven't. Harm took a hand from the wheel for a moment, while Mattie closed her eyes, "Here, Mom and Frank's number is number three on the speed dial!" he told her as he waved his cell 'phone at her.

"Harm, I don't know your Mom, and I am not going to be the total stranger that calls her and tells her that her grandchild is in the process of being born. No way! That's your job, mister, and you can do it just as soon as we've seen Catherine. And," she raised her voice slightly to cut off the interruption she could see forming on his face, "That goes for anyone else you might think of!"

Despite his worry, Harm couldn't resist a smile at the way Mattie had just chewed his six, "Yes, ma'am!" he replied, turning his head just enough so that Mattie could see his smile.

So it was largely thanks to Mattie's efforts that a few minutes later Harm brought the Lexus safely to a gentle stop in a parking slot not far from the hospital's main doors. He and Mattie dismounted, and with Catherine's suitcase in his hand, he ushered the teenager into the building, indicating with a nod of his head Catherine's Malibu Max parked a few yards further along in front of the building.

The two of them hurried through the hallways, guided by Harm's memory of accompanying Catherine to her OB/Gyn appointments and eventually arrived at the Maternity Wing reception. A young auburn haired nurse in light blue scrubs smiled up at them as they approached, "Commander Rabb?" she asked having recognised his uniform.

"Yes, I'm here to see Catherine Gale, she's just been brought in…"

"Yes, she warned us that you'd be arriving, 'charging in like a bull in a china shop', were her actual words. She's being settled into her room at the moment, so if you'd like to take a seat, I'll let you know when you can go on up."

"But…"

Whatever protest Harm had been about to make was forestalled by Mattie's quiet suggestion, "Just about now would be a good time to call your Mom, and anyone else you want to…"

Harm flashed her a grateful smile, "Yeah, thanks for reminding me Squirt!" and he turned to leave the waiting area, only to be stopped by the nurse calling out, "Oh, Commander Rabb, there's an outside door to a balcony over there, you can make cell 'phone calls from there!"

Harm looked at the door the nurse had indicated, and with a grateful smile and a nod of his head he made his way across the waiting area and disappeared, Mattie assumed, onto the balcony. The teenager smiled at the nurse and in the age old way of women everywhere they exchanged looks, shook their heads and chorused, "Men!"

Mattie looked curiously at the Nurse who had added, "Oh, he's not the worst, I've seen them much, much worse than that!"

"I suppose you seen all sorts," Mattie guessed, "But you gotta cut him some slack, this is their first baby!"

"Oh, I've seen just about everything," the young nurse grinned, and I'll let you into a little secret, it isn't always the first time dads that are the worst!"

Mattie grinned delightedly, "Oh, wow! I can't wait to tease him about that!" and then sobered up as she asked "How long do you reckon before we can go and see Catherine?"

The nurse squinted up at the wall clock and seemed to be calculating the time since Catherine had been admitted, "About another ten, fifteen minutes. She came in about twenty minutes ago, so by the time…"

"Yeah," Mattie interrupted, casting her eyes around the reception area, "she didn't drive herself, did she? She said she was going to get…"

"Oh, no, of course not, she came in with… yes, there she is! The young woman in the charcoal suit, over by the water cooler."

"Thanks," Mattie smiled, "I guess one us ought to go over and make nice with her!"

Suiting her actions to her words, Mattie walked across to the water cooler, "Hi, are you Catherine's friend, the one who drove her here?" Mattie asked tentatively.

Mae looked at the teenager with a measure of surprise not unmixed with suspicion, "Yes, I am, who wants to know?"

Mattie grinned and stuck out her hand, "Hi, I'm Mattie Grace. I live with Catherine and Harm, and I know he'll want to say thank you…" and seeing Mae look around the room, Mattie continued, "Oh, he's just stepped out to make a couple of 'phone calls, his Mom and maybe a couple of friends."

Mae relaxed and ventured a smile as she took Mattie's hand, "Hi, I'm Mae Nicholson, Catherine's secretary."

Mattie nodded, "Yeah, I've heard your name."

Mae grinned back, "Yeah, and I've heard yours!"

Mattie continued to grin. Although a slight blush suffused her cheeks, "Catherine's been talking about me huh? Well, I don't care how many lies she's told you – but if she's let out one word of truth then she's a dead woman walking!"

Mae looked startled at the teenager's vehemence but then saw through the bluster to the real affection that Mattie was trying to hide. "Not even a syllable of truth concerning you has ever passed Catherine's lips," she chuckled.

"How do you know that?" Mattie challenged.

"Because Catherine told me," Mae protested in wide eyed innocence

"But if Catherine's such a liar, how can you believe a word of what she says?" Mattie giggled.

Mae shook her head, "That's pretty logical thinking," she laughed, "dark and twisted, but logical – I like it!"

Harm re-entered the waiting area to see Mattie giggling with another young woman, and his eyebrow quirked in a question, he made his way across to them. "That's Mom told, Squirt," he paused, "Who's your friend?"

"Harm, this is Mae, she drove Catherine here from Langley, she's Catherine's secretary… Mae this is..."

"Harmon Rabb!" Mae finished for her, "Catherine's told me lots about you, and some of it is probably even true!"

For some reason Mae's comment set Mattie off into another fit of the giggles, one that Mae very nearly succumbed to as well, but that left Harm staring in bewilderment from on to the other.

"Private joke, Harm," Mattie said as she mopped her eyes dry, "I'll explain it to you later!"

Harm nodded, turning his attention now fully on Mae, "You drove Catherine in her car, right?" Mae nodded. "Where do you live?" Harm now asked.

"Alexandria, near Saint Mary's," Mae answered him.

"Mae, I – we – can't thank you enough for taking care of Catherine, and you're a long way from home, so why don't you take her car home, and then into Langley tomorrow, and I'll come over and pick it up. It'll save you fighting the DC Public Transit system!"

"Oh, no, no need for that, I can call my husband and he'll come and pick me up!"

"Please, Mae, take the car, neither I nor Catherine would be very happy if it was left here overnight; I've got my own car here, and Mattie hasn't got a licence. So you'll be doing us a favour, and besides, I'm guessing your car is still at Langley?"

Mae sighed and smiled, "I was forgetting, Catherine told me that you were a Navy attorney. I should have known better than to try and argue with a lawyer! Thank you! Now I know this is going to seem rude, but I figure you've got a lot to take care of and I've got a toddler and a husband who'll be waiting for me at home, so if you promise to call me tomorrow and tell me the news, I'll say goodbye to you both right here and now!"

Farewells made, Mattie and Harm took refuge on the uncomfortably hard blue plastic chairs and after sitting in silence for a few minutes, Mattie ventured to ask, "So, how did your Mom take the news?"

Harm chuckled, "Well, after nearly rupturing my eardrums, and despite my telling her that I hadn't see Catherine yet, she kept on asking how she was, and I had to explain it all again, and the last I heard as we were hanging up was her telling Frank to get them on a flight today, or she was going to start driving!"

Mattie laughed briefly, but then sobered up, "But she lives in San Diego, right?"

"Well, La Jolla, but yes, that's near San Diego," Harm gently corrected her.

Mattie gave a teenage shrug, "Whatever, but it would take her days to drive clear across the country, right?"

"Yeah, right. But right now she's not thinking with her head, she's thinking with her heart. That's what makes her a Mom."

Mattie nodded, resolved to hoard that piece of wisdom away and they both relapsed into a silence, each of them growing slightly more uneasy as the minutes ticked past. Eventually they were approached by a maternal-looking woman in green scrubs, "Mister Rabb?" Harm nodded his acknowledgement, "I'm Doctor Winslow, Miss Gale's attending OB today. She's thrown us all a little bit off balance. She seems to have skipped, or managed to ignore the first stage of labour…"

Harm grinned, "She always was an over-achiever, just like Harriett!"

Both Doctor Winslow and Mattie looked blank at the second half of Harm's comment, but the Doctor continued as if he hadn't spoken, "So now she's in second stage, we're moving her up to L&D, where she'll stay until the baby arrives. I understand that you and she want you to be present at the birth, so if you'll follow me, I'll get you fitted up with a set of scrubs, and have the nurse take you through scrub up, and some general rules and guides on behaviour."

Harm stood and started to follow the Doctor, until he realised that Mattie, still with Catherine's suitcase in hand was also tagging along. "Where do you think you're going young lady?" he challenged.

"With you." Mattie said flatly.

"Mats, I hardly think that would be suitable…"

"Harm, Catherine and I have talked this through… she's happy for me to be there if I want to be, and as it could be me up there one day I want to see if it's something I ever want to do! Besides, Catherine said she wants me there so she's still got someone to yell at when you pass out!"

Winslow looked amused at Mattie's declaration and even more so at Harm's dumbfounded expression, "I'll check with Miss Gale, and if she's happy for you to be there young lady, then I don't have a problem."

So thirty minutes later Mattie with Harm still glowering uncertainly at her and both dressed in caps and scrubs were ushered into the delivery suite, where a panting Catherine lay, sweat beading her forehead an upper lip. "It took you damn well long enough!" she declared snappishly.

"That would be our fault, not Mister Rabb's," Doctor Winslow intervened, winking at Harm while she was out of Catherine's line of sight.

"Well at least he made it!" Catherine conceded grumpily, and then in some surprise as Mattie laid her hand on Catherine's shoulder, she craned her neck to see who had approached and seeing the teenager, a broad smile crossed her face, "Come to see how it's done, Mats?"

"No, I've come to make sure that you do it right and you do what the doctors tell you, and," Mattie bent to whisper in her ear, "so you still got someone with you when Harm crashes and burns!"

Catherine broke out into a gurgle of laughter which abruptly turned into a gasp of pain, which was nearly echoed by Mattie as Catherine gripped her hand ferociously. The contraction passed, and Catherine lay panting once again, "Water, please?" she asked.

Harm looked uncertainly at the nurse monitoring Catherine's vitals, who nodded encouragingly, and indicated a glass pitcher filled with water, the condensation on its side bearing witness to the temperature of its contents. Alongside the pitcher were a drinking glass and a packet of plastic drinking tubes. Catherine sipped gratefully at the chilled water and with a smiled "Thanks," indicated that Harm could now take it away.

The next six hours seemed to be an eternity for Catherine, Harm and Mattie. Catherine had done all the work, but the worry and the emotional strain on the other two could only partially be relieved by their dabbing the sweat from Catherine's face and offering her more glasses of water at frequent intervals.

At length the Doctor's instructions became more urgent as she instructed Catherine that now, at last, was the time to push. A screaming, sweating, swearing Catherine made one last effort and moments later the indignant wail of a new-born sounded though the delivery suite and a slimy, squalling, bloodied bundle was placed on Catherine's stomach while a nurse tied off the umbilical cord and Doctor Winslow, placing a pair of surgical scissors in his hands invited Harm to cut the cord, just where she indicated. Shaking his hand to restore feeling where Catherine's vice-like grip had crushed all sensation out of his hand, Harm made the cut.

The cord cut, the baby was whisked away to be cleaned, weighed and measured, and then after a few minutes was returned to the tired, sweaty but indescribably happy mother, who turned towards Harm and with a beatific smile said, "Harm, it's our daughter, isn't she beautiful!"

Harm, was too overcome for words, and the tears starting in his eyes could only nod his agreement. Catherine turned towards Mattie, "See, Mattie this is your baby sister!"

Mattie gulped, "Don't say that," she begged, "You might jinx us!" but nevertheless stretched a tremulous hand out towards the very small person in Catherine's arms and touched her cheek very lightly with one finger, "Hey, baby girl," she whispered softly, "Welcome to the world."

Doctor Winslow broke up the quiet little tableau at the head of the delivery table, "We need to get Catherine cleaned up now, and then taken back to her room. In the meantime, I believe there are some anxious folk waiting to see your new arrival outside in the waiting area.

Harm looked panicked, "Are you sure, won't it hurt the baby, I mean…?"

Winslow laughed, "Go on; a couple of minutes won't hurt, and as soon as Catherine is cleaned up you can bring the baby back to her and then you can all go down to her room."

Harm gingerly took the pink blanket wrapped baby in his arms, being scolded by Mattie to remember to support the baby's head and then with Mattie by his side he walked into the waiting room to be confronted by Bud and Harriett, together with a sleepy A J, Jennifer Coates and a well wrapped and wheelchair bound ecstatic Esther Gale under the escort of Doctor Alison Cameron and Nurse Brigid O'Keefe.

Harm stopped dead in his tracks, almost overcome by this display of friendship after the emotional roller coaster of the day. Making a valiant effort he cleared his throat, "Folks, I'd like you to meet Elizabeth Patricia Rabb, born at nineteen twenty two hours, seven pounds twelve ounces, twenty inches long, and complete with ten fingers and ten toes!"


	25. Chapter 25

Mattie and Harm crossed to where Esther sat in her wheel chair where Mattie hugged the older woman, and kissed her cheek and where to the accompanying smiles of Doctor Cameron and Nurse Brigid, once Mattie had stepped back, Harm gently placed Elizabeth in her Grandmother's arms and then crouched alongside the wheelchair, "There you are Grandma," he said gently,

Esther, whose attention had been wholly fixed on Elizabeth, lifted her eyes to Harm and with soundless tears of joy streaming down her face she whispered, "Thank you Harm, thank you so very much!"

Embarrassed, Harm coughed to cover his confusion, "Hell, I didn't do anything Esther, it was all Catherine!"

"Not so!" Esther contradicted him, "You've looked after her, made sure she ate sensibly, and you've been so kind, patient and loving. I even heard that you did drive to the all night store for jars of pickles!"

Harm laughed, "It was tins of sardines!" he corrected her, and both fell silent as Elizabeth stirred in Esther's arms. For long minutes they stayed like that, Harm crouched alongside Grandmother and baby while Mattie stood behind the chair, a hand resting lightly on Esther's shawl-shrouded shoulder.

Esther managed a further smile and said, "You'd best take her to meet her other admirers, Harm. I'm getting a bit sleepy, and I don't want to drop her. Tell Catherine I was here, and I'll be back tomorrow to see them both!"

Alison Cameron nodded approvingly as Harm retrieved Elizabeth and both he and Mattie bent to kiss the old lady's cheek. Esther smiled mistily at them both and then turned her head, "Back to the ward please, Brigid."

Bud, Harriet and Jen, had been waiting patiently for Esther to meet her granddaughter, now stepped forward, Bud with a huge grin on his face and a congratulatory hand outstretched, while Harriett had a huge smile on her face, as did Jen, who stayed a pace behind the two officers.

Mattie exchanged a brief smile of welcome with Bud and Harriet but hung back a little as the Roberts and Jennifer Coates came forward to catch their first sight of Elizabeth. Harm was still feeling distinctly overwhelmed, but in between receiving his friends' congratulations his ecstatic smile was replaced by two vertical lines between his eyes, at length he could no longer contain his curiosity, "Jen… not that you're not welcome, you are, very much so, and I am so glad that you are here, but how did you know…?"

A J had stirred from his half-asleep state and catching sight of his new best friend he crossed the room to Mattie, "I don't like it here!" he confided in her.

Mattie dropped to a crouch, "What's up big guy?"

"It's like when mommy brought the baby home!" A J fell silent his eyes going to Harm, "Is that another baby Unca Harm's got?" he demanded.

Mattie smiled, "Yes, that's my new little sister," she said encouragingly.

A J looked at her solemnly, "Does that mean you got to share all your toys with her?"

"Yep," Mattie rose and slid into a chair, and then extending her arms she helped A J to sit next to her, looping an arm around his shoulders so that he was able to snuggle up to her, "I'm so lucky! I get a new sister to share my toys with, and to look after, and teach her all sorts of things!"

Jen, who had been absorbed in watching Mattie's interplay with A J was taken off-guard by Harm's question and reddened, "Uh… well, after you dropped that bomb on Lynne and me, I… uh… figured that if anyone know the full story it would be Lieutenant Sims… so I kinda called her and asked her if she knew what was happening with you…"

Harm was still only capable of grasping one fact at a time, and there was something about Jen's confession that bothered him, "Lynne?" he asked blankly.

"Umm… yeah, Lynne Barker, sir. Your Legalman."

Harm nodded, he had known that Barker's initial was 'L' but he hadn't made the connection, and now satisfied on that count, he turned to Harriet and asked, in reproachful tones, "Et tu Brute?"

Harriet had the grace to look conscience stricken as she found an answer, "Sir, I knew that this was sooner than you and Catherine had expected; and that with your Mom out in California, you wouldn't have your real family around, so I figured that having friends here instead might be some sort of substitute…"

Harm felt as if the ground had been cut away from underneath him, "Alright, you're all most welcome, and you're all forgiven. Yes, I am glad you're here with us."

Harm was interrupted by the arrival of a scrubs-clad nurse, who smiled at him and said, "Mommy's all nice and clean now, and waiting to feed her new daughter, so if you'll follow me, I'll take you back to her."

Harm grinned, "Thanks, but give us a minute, please,"" he said laconically, and then turning back to face his friends, he continued, "Now, you can all tell me just how beautiful our new daughter is, and then I reckon I'd best do what the nurse says and take her back to her mommy!"

Despite her best efforts Harriet's eyes suddenly brimmed with tears, and she sniffled audibly, and then realising that everyone was looking at her, she mustered a watery smile, "I'm so sorry, Harm, I didn't mean to… it's just that… Sarah," she finished tearfully.

"It's OK, Harriet," Harm said calmly, "I'm so sorry, I should have known better…"

"No, it's not OK, sir!" Harriet said fiercely, "you have nothing to apologise for," she mopped her eyes. "Take every joy in your daughter, Harm! You and Catherine deserve happiness!"

Harm nodded in acknowledgement and softly said, "Thank you, Harriet," before turning towards Mattie, "Ready, Squirt?"

Mattie rose to her feet, disengaging he arm from A J's shoulders, and saying softly, "Hey, little man, I gotta go now, but you be good for your mommy and daddy, and remember what I said about sharing your toys with Jimmy, and all about teaching him when he gets to be a big boy, like you!" She smiled warily at Harriet, the teenager having been made uneasy by the sudden display of emotion on the blonde's part, but to her relief Harriet managed to return the smile, "It's OK, Mattie, I'm good… and thanks for looking after A J, I think he's still a little bit upset by hospitals!"

It was now Mattie's turn to blush, "No thanks needed Mrs Roberts," she mumbled, "I guess the little guy was feeling a bit left out, so I just…" she mustered a weak grin and then turned to Harm, drawing a deep breath and asked him, "Ready?"

Harm who had watched her interaction with Harriet nodded, "Yeah, ready. Nurse, if you'll be so kind…"

As they turned to leave the little group in the waiting area, Harriet called out to Mattie, "Oh, Mattie, it's not Mrs Roberts… it's Harriet!"

A startled Mattie could only managed a hurried "Yes, ma'am!" before scuttling after Harm as he held open the swing doors for her.

Jen who had on several occasions baby-sat for A J, and knew just how much of a demon he could be, was amazed by the manner in which Mattie had turned away what Jen thought was going to be a display of acting out on the boy's part, and as soon as the doors had closed behind Harm, Mattie and Elizabeth she turned to Harriet, "Ma'am… who's that girl with the Commander? I've never… and she was so good with A J," Jen quickly amended her sentence; she was consumed with curiosity, but was unable to openly give vent to it. After all, it wasn't her place to demand to know everything about Harm's life, no, sir! She was no Colonel MacKenzie!

Harriet grinned at Jen, she too had been eaten alive by unasked and unknown questions, and she had taken the opportunity of last night's prolonged visit by Harm, Catherine and Mattie, and had managed to elicit a goodly, but still incomplete, part of the story. "That's Mattie Grace," she told Jen, "apparently, she was Harm's boss while he was crop dusting…"

"Crop dusting!" Jen exclaimed in disbelief.

Bud, who had been comforting A J who was showing signs of tiredness induced grumpiness, interrupted, "Jen, if you start asking questions, we'll never get to the end of it, and it's gone time when this little feller should be in bed! And," he added pointedly, "there's the question of Jimmy's baby-sitter."

"Oh, I'm sorry, sir…"

"No, don't apologise, Jen," Harriet said, "What little I know won't take too long, so walk out with us, and I'll tell you what I can. Now, as I was saying…"

Bud shook his head and rousing a drowsily irritable A J, he took his son by the hand and guided his faltering steps in the wake of Jen and Harriet, catching up with them as Harriet stopped by their minivan just in time to hear Harriet say, "And that's about all I know, except that we first met her yesterday, and she and little A J just seemed to click!"

xxv-xxv-xxv-xxv-xxv

Harm and Mattie followed the nurse down to a private room where Catherine, bathed and clad in a fresh gown and her hair neatly brushed was waiting for their return to her bedside and as soon as she saw them she lifted her arms to take Elizabeth from Harm's careful hold.

With a huge smile he placed their daughter in Catherine's arms and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek before straightening up and asking gravely, "How is it with you, Catherine?"

"I'm OK, Harm. Really. I'm a little tired, a little sore and a lot, lot happy!" She smiled down at Elizabeth and then gasped, "Oh, Harm! Look!"

Some instinct must have told Elizabeth that she was now near the source of nourishment and she had turned her head into Catherine's body and started rooting at her breast. With a looked of stunned, but happy amazement, Catherine looked up at Harm and seeing his nod of encouragement, used one hand to slip the gown off her shoulder and then guided her nipple to Elizabeth's hungry mouth.

Elizabeth latched on at the second attempt and started to feed, drawing an "Oh!" from Catherine as she experienced that sensation for the first time, but causing Mattie to blush fire-appliance red and mutter, "Uh… I'm just going to find a vending machine and maybe get a soda…" before she backed out of the room, leaving Harm and Catherine laughing at her precipitous retreat.

As his chuckles died away, Harm sat on the edge of the bed and looped an arm around Catherine's shoulder, resting his cheek on the top of her head as he watched her nurse Elizabeth.

They stayed together as a group for about ten minutes until with a milky dribble, Elizabeth released Catherine's nipple and as far as Harm could tell drifted off back to sleep. He looked down at her and then back at Catherine, "Wow! Just wow, unbelievable! She's here!" he said in an awed voice.

"Yeah, tell me about it!" Catherine said, but smiling alternatively up at him and down at Elizabeth, "Believe me, I know all about her arrival! I was there!"

Harm grinned, "Gee, were you?"

Before Catherine could frame a reply the door opened to allow Doctor Winslow, now clad in a white lab coat over a skirt and blouse, to enter. "I see she's been nursing," Winslow said approvingly, as she drew up a chair. "Now…" and her voice and expression became business-like, "we've had time to breathe, Catherine, I've been looking over your notes and again at Elizabeth's birth vitals. By all reckoning, Elizabeth is a preemie – a premature baby – but her weight, height and development at birth argue against that being the case, so… I'm going to have some tests run on her." She stopped as Catherine looked up in alarm, "Don't worry, they're non-intrusive tests and won't take very long. The biggest threat to premature babies is that their lungs are underdeveloped and that they have difficulty in nursing. From what I've seen, Elizabeth has no symptoms to suggest that is the case, so I strongly suspect that she is a full-term baby, and that someone, somewhere got the due dates wrong!"

Catherine looked anxiously down at Elizabeth, "When will you do them?" she asked.

"There's no time like the present," Winslow replied, "I'll send a nurse to collect her, and she'll be back with you within the hour!"

Catherine nodded unhappily, she knew in her heart that Elizabeth was a fine, healthy baby, but although there was that certainty, Doctor Winslow's words had allowed a small measure of doubt to creep in.

For the next forty minutes Catherine tried to respond to Harm's flow of small talk and plans for finishing the nursery, but found it difficult to tear her mind away from Elizabeth and the spectre that there was something wrong with her daughter, while Mattie, who rushed back into the room when she'd seen Elizabeth being wheeled away, after an initial flood of questions had subsided into silence and now perched on the bedside chair.

All three looked up whenever they heard approaching footsteps, only to sink back into their thoughts as the sounds passed the door, until at length a lusty bawling was heard and the door opened to reveal a nurse with a wheeled bassinet closely followed by Doctor Winslow.

"My baby, is she alright?" Catherine demanded.

"She's fine Catherine, just fine," Winslow answered as the nurse gently lifted a screaming Elizabeth out of the plastic confines of the bassinet and placed her in Catherine's arms. Once again Elizabeth's instinct led her to root urgently at Catherine's breast, so slipping the gown off her shoulder, Catherine again allowed her baby to nurse. To her surprise Elizabeth only suckled for a minute or two before she relaxed in her mother's arms.

"What just happened here?" a bemused Catherine asked.

Winslow smiled, "I think we upset her a little, and she needed reassurance more than nourishment right now. It's a perfectly natural reaction, so nothing to worry about there. Well, we've run our tests, and as you heard there's nothing wrong with Elizabeth's lungs, they seem to be fully developed, and we've just seen how readily she takes to the breast, so I think I can safely say that you did get your due date wrong, Catherine!"

xxv-xxv-xxv-xxv-xxv

Harm and Mattie's visit had ended shortly thereafter, Catherine was showing increasing signs of sleepiness, so after relaying Esther's message and Bud, Harriet and Jen's messages Harm and Mattie said goodnight, promising to back the following day, and quietly left a happily drowsy Catherine and sleeping Elizabeth in peace and quiet.

The drive home was mostly silent, both Harm and Mattie almost overcome by the events of the day, and it wasn't until they were just about to turn off the Leesburg Pike that Harm spoke, "Want dinner, Squirt?"

Mattie, who hadn't given a thought to her stomach since lunchtime suddenly realised that she was hungry, "I don't know Harm. Yeah I'm hungry, but I feel too tired to eat!"

Harm shot her a look and managed a tired grin, "Oh boy, that's not good! So, you don't want to eat, not even if I let you have free choice?"

Mattie turned to look at him, "Really, even pizza?" she demanded, showing a spark of interest.

Harm smiled, he had half guessed what her choice might be, "Yeah, tonight you can even have pizza."

"Special night, huh?" the teenager asked.

"Yeah, very special night," Harm agreed. That, plus the fact that he was too tired to cook, but there was no point in letting Mattie know that.

No sooner had they raeched home than Harm was on the phone ordering the half and half pizza, roast vegetables and triple cheese for himself and double pepperoni with mushrooms for Mattie, and to their relief the food was delivered within twenty minutes of them ordering. Mattie made a valiant effort to stay awake, but slipped off to sleep halfway through her pizza, and a smiling Harm took the plate off her lap, lifted her feet up on the couch, slipped a couple of throw pillows under her head and covered her with an afghan throw before he turned out the lights and climbed to his and Catherine's bedroom on the second floor, where after a quick shower and despite Catherine's absence, he slipped into sleep almost the second his head hit the pillow.

xxv-xxv-xxv-xxv-xxv

The following morning Harm awoke early, showered, shampooed, shaved, dressed and quietly made his way downstairs where to his amusement Mattie was still curled up on the couch, but had obviously woken up at some stage during the night. Her sweat shirt and jeans in a crumpled heap on the floor bore mute evidence to that event.

Harm stopped for a breakfast coffee on his way to Arlington and arrived before his usual hour at the CP and headed straight to his office and tried to immerse himself in work. He was not to be given the chance to be productive. He'd asked Jennifer the previous evening not to sign in at the Pentagon CP, but to call him when she'd reached the entrance so that she could drive up to Langley with him and drive his Lexus back to the Pentagon, while he retrieved Catherine's Malibu. Jen, keenly aware of her own need to get up to speed in her new billet had also made an early start to the day, so they were back at the Pentagon before the majority of those who worked there had signed in for the day. The rest of Harm's morning passed in a blur. As scuttlebutt bruited abroad his good news, the morning had degenerated into a maelstrom of 'phone calls and visitors, some of whom he barely knew, all offering their congratulations on the birth of Elizabeth. To his pleased surprise one of the calls was from Mac who offered her congratulations albeit somewhat stiff, stilted and formal.

But the biggest surprise was perhaps the knock on his office door which announced the unheralded arrival of Secretary Nelson, who taking a seat in one of the visitors' chairs, smiled and said, "I understand that congratulations are in order, Commander? A new daughter I understand?"

"Yes, Mister Secretary, thank you," Harm replied, struggling to cope with the concept of the Secretary of the Navy coming to visit him, rather than summoning him to the Secretary's office, and then as his mind grappled with all that had happened in the last twenty four hours it seized on an irrelevancy, "If you'll forgive me for asking, Mister Secretary, how did you find out… I mean, I have deliberately kept the whole pregnancy thing low key and…"

Secretary Sheffield laughed. It was the first time Harm had seen honest, unaffected good humour in his sometimes acerbic Chief. "Harm," the SecNav said, stunning his junior into silence by the unprecedented use of his first name, "If you wanted to keep it a secret, then you shouldn't have blurted out anything about breaking waters in front of two female members of staff. You may think that the Navy's scuttlebutt machine is impressive, but I can assure you that it isn't a patch on the female mafia's bush telegraph! Once your two Legalmen knew, it was inevitable that other female members of my staff would hear – probably before you even made it to the hospital, and I heard about the birth from my PA before you even made it through the doors this morning! It's funny," he went on whimsically, "How any birth that comes to their notice, even if the connection is extremely tenuous, seems to spark off a sort of feeding frenzy in women!"

"Uh, yes, Mister Secretary," a still stunned Harm managed.

The SecNav eyed him shrewdly, "I recall you saying, when I first offered to re-instate your commission that you had personal reasons for wanting to stay in the DC area. I take it your partner's pregnancy and your daughter's impending arrival were paramount amongst those reasons?"

"Yes, Mister Secretary, very much so!"

"Good… good," Secretary Sheffield nodded his head in pursed lip approval and then smiled again, "Commander, you should take every blessed minute of your daughter's life and enjoy it to the full! Which reminds me, I don't seem to have received a request for personal time?"

"I don't really think I can take the time, Mister Secretary, my Yeoman is in the process of handing over her duties, as is Commander Coleman and we are still waiting for Major Sheddan to rotate in, and I'm still feeling my way in many respects and… I just don't feel I could justify taking time right now…"

"Nonsense! The world and this department won't grind to a halt without your presence, Commander! Remember the old saying, Harm, 'cemeteries are full of indispensable men'! Take the time to enjoy this experience. I understand your daughter is your first child? Well, relish every minute of it. It's not something that can ever be truly repeated. Now, I understand that hospitals no longer keep new mothers for more than about forty-eight hours, so I don't expect to see you back here after the end of the day tomorrow and before Monday of next week! And, in the unlikely event," he continued with heavy irony, "that I might need you to save the world, we do have your contact details! Now, is there any part of that little rant that you don't understand, Commander?"

"No, Mister Secretary. Thank you!"

Secretary Sheffield stood, Harm rising to his feet with him, "I'm glad we understand each other." Then with a decisive nod, the politician pivoted and crossed to the door, waving off Harm's attempt at seeing him out.

He had been hunted out of his office at midday by the combined efforts of Jen Coates and Lynne Barker, who bullied him into taking a lunch break, and when he'd protested they had looked at each other and then in chorus answered, "It's for your own good, sir!"

Harm glowered at them, "Did you two rehearse that?" he demanded suspiciously.

"No, sir, honest. It was just… spontaneous, sort of… kinda thing…" Jen answered.

Harm looked at her more closely, her previous existence as a con-artist had allowed Jen to develop the habit of lying convincingly, but Harm had known her long enough to pick up on her 'tells' and was satisfied that on this occasion she was telling the truth. So taking advantage of the unusually bright and for late November warm weather, he took his coffee to one of the outside benches, where he also took the chance of calling Mattie, "Hi Squirt, did you sleep alright?" he asked with a chuckle in his voice.

"_Yeah, great thanks!"_ Mattie's voice dripped sarcasm, "_I slept right through until your Mom woke me up by banging on the door at Oh Christ hundred hours!_"

"She's here already?" Harm asked in astonishment.

"_Nope, it was just an hallucination I had_!"

Harm winced, he obviously had a lot of work ahead to restore Mattie's usually sunny nature. "Where is she now?"

"_She's gone shopping for a layette at Tysons Corner_!" Mattie told him with satisfaction.

Harm's wish for a restoration of Mattie's sense of humour was partially filled when his "Oh, crap!" brought a giggle from her.

"That's enough of that, young lady!" he scolded her, but his heart wasn't really in it, and again he was further disarmed by the sound of Mattie's giggles.

Harm drew a deep breath, "Right, now listen up! If my Mom gets back from shopping before I do, tell her I'll be home at about seventeen hundred. We'll have dinner and then we'll all go to visit with Catherine. Got it?"

Mattie's crisp "_Aye, aye, sir!"_ couldn't hide the laughter in her voice and Harm could easily imagine her snapping off one of her horribly executed mocking salutes.

Harm returned to the office in a thoughtful frame of mind, but the day hadn't stopped plying him with surprises. As he secured for the day and walked into the outer office, Barker's voice stopped him, "Sir, there's been a package left for you."

Harm looked at the two young women and could see happiness plastered all over both faces, as Jen stood and handed him a gift-wrapped box. "Is this your doing, Coates?"

"No, sir!"

"Barker?"

"Not me, sir!"

Now curious, Harm opened the wrapping paper to reveal a lightweight wooden box bearing the logo of 'Ancient Age Ten Year Old Bourbon', and as he did so, a slip of white card fluttered onto Barker's desk. Without thinking the young Petty Officer picked up the card, and as she read the handwritten message her eyes grew wide and round, "Sir…" she said in a whisper, holding the card out to Harm.

Harm took the card and read the message, his eyebrows climbing almost to his hairline, "Thank you, Barker. This is a surprise!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Let's keep it between us for the moment, shall we, ladies?" his sweeping glance made it clear that he included Jen in the secret, as he slipped the card into his pocket. He picked up his cover and briefcase, and with the cover tucked under his arm quit the office for the day, leaving Jen to fix Lynne Barker with a flat stare.

"OK, what was on the card?" she demanded.

"Oh… just 'congratulations on the birth of your daughter'… but it was signed 'Edward Sheffield'!"

"The SecNav? Wow!"

xxv-xxv-xxv-xxv-xxv

As he turned into the drive Harm saw, parked in front of the garage, the late mark high-end Chrysler with the Hertz Rental sticker on the rear windscreen, and with a wry grin reflected that it was just like Frank to get a rental that came from his own company's stable, even if it wasn't the best choice available, but of course, as far as Frank was concerned it was!

Further proof of the descent of his Mom and her husband, if it were needed, was supplied by the number of large parcels that cluttered the lobby and by the sound of cheerful voices coming from the direction of the kitchen, so bracing himself, he placed his cover on the side table and walked through to the kitchen.

Mattie and Frank were sitting at the refectory style kitchen table while Patricia Rabb-Burnett, or Tricia Burnett as she preferred to be called, busied herself at the work surface next to the cooker where an already impressive pile of chopped, diced and sliced vegetables was growing by the minute as her knife flashed through yet more vegetables.

"Hi Mom, Frank, Mattie," he said casually from the doorway Tricia Burnett gave a squeal; of pure joy and almost threw herself across the kitchen, colliding with his chest with enough force to stagger him backwards, throwing her arms around his neck and delivering two smacking kisses, one to each cheek, which he as enthusiastically returned, and then stood back sliding his hands down her arm until he could take her hands in his own, "It's good to see you, Mom," he smiled.

"You too son," Tricia smiled as she blinked her to clear her sight which had, for some strange reason, suddenly become blurred.

Harm saw her eyes shining with unshed tears and giving her a space in which she could regain control, he turned to Frank and offered his hand as the older man stood, "You Mom's right, Harm, it is good to see you again!"

"Yes, of course she's right! Mom's prerogative, she's always right!" Harm joked as he gripped Frank's hand before he held a chair for his mother to sit at the table, while he turned and placed the kettle on a burner and busied himself with the making of a pot of tea.

"So… what have you been up to today?" Harm asked Tricia.

"We did a little shopping for the nursery," Tricia smiled, "Mattie showed us around and explained that the birth was earlier than expected, so you hadn't gotten round to finishing the nursery, so we helped out. And then we got back from shopping we sat down with Mattie had a cosy little chat!"

Harm kept a straight face but winced inwardly as he poured them all a cup of tea. If Mattie had been subjected to one of his Mom's 'cosy little chats' then she had experienced a level of interrogation that a mission-toughened SEAL would have been hard put to withstand.

"Yes, we had a chat, but I have to say Harm, that your young friend is not very forthcoming!" Tricia said in very much aggrieved accents.

Before Harm could answer this surprising announcement, Frank spoke up, "I'm sorry, Harm. I tried to get her to stop, but…" he spread his hands and shrugged helplessly while Mattie, although her ears were burning red, threw a wholly unrepentant grin at Harm.

Harm nearly laughed aloud at the look of chagrin on Tricia's face, but contented himself with stretching out a hand, ruffling Mattie's already unruly curls and bestowing on her a "Bravo Zulu, Squirt!"

"Anyway," Tricia dismissed the subject of her failed attempt to worm Mattie's secrets out of her and with one of her characteristic mercurial changes of mood turned back to Harm and said, "We did manage to get Elizabeth's birth statistics from Mattie, but she was very close-mouthed about everything else!" and then her voice lost its teasing tone as she asked, "How is Catherine?"

"When we left her last night, she admitted to being a little tired and a little sore and a lot happy!" Harm repeated Catherine's self-description word for word.

Tricia nodded, "I expect she was! But as we're all going to visit her and my granddaughter this evening, we shall soon see for ourselves!

Harm nodded, "Anything else I need to know?" he asked humorously.

"Um… yeah," Mattie turned to the work surface under the kitchen cabinet, "This… uh… arrived in the mail this morning. It's from Charlottesville family court…"

Harm grabbed a knife from the drawer and hurriedly slit open the envelope and unfolded the single sheet of paper it had contained, and then he raised his eyes to Mattie and said with a smile. "They've set our court date, Wednesday December twenty fourth at ten hundred hours at Charlottesville!"

xxv-xxv-xxv-xxv-xxv

Harm temporarily halted the procession at the hospital's main reception, "Can you call CCU and find out if Esther Gale is fit enough to be wheeled up to maternity, to see her daughter, please? We'll be in M Two Ten. Thank you"

Although Harm was later than he'd wanted to be in visiting Catherine and was now in an agony of impatience he was forced to shorten his stride so that the rest of the party could keep up with them. He had planned for a quick snack dinner with Mattie and then dashing straight to the Kresge Hospital, but Tricia and Frank's presence had inevitably led to a full dinner followed by a leisurely coffee before Tricia – who refused to be rushed at meals – finally decided that she was ready to quit the house.

On reaching Catherine's room, Harm opened the door and poked his head around the doorjamb to see Catherine lying half on her side, with Elizabeth nestled in her arms and with a smile on her face that Harm had never seen before but one that he instantly decided he liked the best of all her smiles.

His softly spoken "Hey, sweetheart, how are you doing?" brought Catherine's face up to look at him, and the soft smile on her face broadened to one of pure happiness. In an instant Harm was across the room and sitting on the edge of the bed, his arm supporting Catherine as she reached up and with a hand at the back of his neck pulled him down for a long, tender, loving kiss. Harm had the presence of mind to arch his back to ensure that he wasn't leaning on Elizabeth, but other than that the two of them seemed oblivious to their surroundings.

Frank and Tricia exchanged a look brim-full of slightly embarrassed amusement, but it was furiously blushing Mattie who broke the spell, "For Chrissakes, people, I know I said to get a room. But I meant in a motel – not a hospital!"

Harm and Catherine broke their kiss, but still holding on to each other they grinned and looked towards Mattie and Catherine said, "Hey Kiddo, a room is a room is a room, and you are going to have to get used to it, 'cos we've got a lot more where that came from!"

Mattie groaned and raised her eyes heavenwards, "Shameless! That's what you are, just shameless!"

The pantomime was too much for Frank and he laughed out loud, bringing Catherine's focus to bear on him and Tricia. Catherine had been aware of the others in the room, but her attention had been fully focused on Harm and then on teasing Mattie, so turning back towards Harm, she asked, "Darling…?"

Harm stood to allow Tricia and Frank better access to the bed, and carefully lifting Elizabeth he took her in his arms, smiled and said, "Catherine, this is my Mom, Patricia Siobhan Rabb-Burnett and her husband, my step-father, Frank Burnett. Mom, Frank this is my Catherine, and this," he looked down at the bundle in his arms, "is our wonderful, beautiful daughter, Elizabeth Patricia Rabb."

Tricia gasped in surprise and opened her mouth to speak, but before she could utter a word, Harm smiled and nodded, "Yes, Elizabeth for Catherine's Grandmother and Patricia for you."

Tricia's eyes flooded with tears and she managed a tremulous, "Thank you, Harm and…" crossing to the bed she sat on the edge and held out her arms to Catherine, who wincing slightly, sat and took Harm 's mother into a hug, "thank you, thank you, thank you…" she repeated in a whisper muffled by Catherine's hair.

Catherine returned the whisper, her voice too betraying her emotion, "Don't, please don't… it's the least we could do…"

For a minute or so the two women sat their arms around each other and tears on their cheeks as they strove to convey by touch and empathy all that they could not for the moment put into words.

It was Tricia, who applying the stern self-discipline she had learned through the years of silently grieving Harm's father that broke the embrace, and diving into her purse brought out a packet of Kleenex, and offering them first to Catherine, she dabbed at her eyes, trying to minimise the damage to her make up, and said in still slightly quavering voice, "Oh, I'm so sorry, dear. What must you think of me? Not even introduced properly and I'm acting like a watering pot and soaking you!"

"No worse than I am, Mrs Burnett," Catherine answered in an equally shaky voice, "and I bet I look a sight!"

Harm silently disagreed. Catherine had benefited from the suitcase he and Mattie had delivered and had changed from the hospital gown into a blue and white striped retro version of a nineteenth century men's nightshirt that had been bought specifically because not only had it a button front, was voluminous enough to slip off one shoulder allowing Catherine to breast-feed with the minimum of inconvenience, and to Harm's eye she look more beautiful than ever before.

Tricia smiled at Catherine and half turning held her hand out to Frank who advanced towards the bed, took hold of one of Catherine's hands and smiling said, "Welcome to the asylum, Catherine!" and was surprised when Catherine tugged on his hand to bring him nearer, while stretching up to offer her cheek. Nothing loath, a surprised and gratified Frank accepted her unspoken invitation, and continued to hold Catherine's hand as she lowered herself with a sigh back onto her pillows.

Harm had been watching her carefully and her sigh and momentarily closed eyes brought a look of concern to his face, "Not too tired, sweetheart?" he asked, not quite able to conceal his anxiety.

"No, I'm fine, Harm. A little more sore than tired, but Doctor Winslow has assured me that the soreness will pass!" Catherine smiled reassuringly.

Harm nodded in relief and re-took his seat on the side of the bed as soon as Tricia stood and with a questioning glance at Catherine said, once he had received Catherine's silent agreement, "Mom, would you… uh… like to… hold Elizabeth?"

"Oh, darling, of course I would! I thought you'd never ask!"

A general shuffle ended with Harm and Mattie perched on the bed, flanking Catherine, while Tricia, with Elizabeth safely cradled in her arms sat in the bedside chair with Frank standing behind Tricia's right shoulder, both their attentions firmly focused on the newcomer to the family, while the three on the bed looked on with approving smiles.

It was Mattie, with perhaps less emotional involvement with the proceedings who first noticed the additions to the room's décor, "Um… Catherine… where did you get all these incredible flowers?" indicating the profusion of blooms that seemed to occupy every horizontal surface.

"Oh…" Catherine answered, with a flush of pleasure, "Aren't they beautiful! That bunch arrived this morning with a card from Bud, Harriett, A J and Jimmy; and that bunch was brought in by Jennifer and Lynne – from your office?" she added with a look at Harm who nodded as she continued, "And that bouquet arrived this afternoon from Beth and Gina, and those also arrived this afternoon with a card signed by Edward and Doreen Sheffield!"

"Sheffield?" Harm asked in amazement, putting aside for the moment the question of how Beth and Gina had gotten the news, and just shook his head in wonder as Catherine smiled her confirmation.

"Who're Edward and Doreen Sheffield?" Tricia asked.

"He's the Secretary of the Navy, and I assume Doreen is his wife," the more politically informed Frank answered, "and I believe he is Harm's direct boss!"

Whatever else might have been said was forgotten as a knock on the door announced the arrival of Esther Gale, her wheelchair propelled by a huge smiling African-American man with his dreadlocked hair safely contain by a colourful head cloth, who withdrew to the hallway once he had applied the wheelchair's brakes.

Mattie leaped off the bed and almost ran across to the wheelchair, but her delighted smile swiftly turned to an expression of concern as she spotted Esther's nasal cannula and the cylinder of oxygen attached to the chair, "What's this, Esther?" she demanded gruffly as soon as she had hugged and kissed Catherine's Mom.

"Oh, nothing to worry about, dear," Esther smiled brightly, "it's just all this excitement got my heart pumping a little faster, and Doctor Cameron thought that a little precautionary oxygen would be better than waiting for any more problems to develop!"

Mattie, still holding onto Esther's hands dropped into a crouch and looked the old lady straight in the eye, "You're not trying to snow me, now are you?"

Esther drew herself up erect and said sternly, "Young lady, I am totally unfamiliar with such slang expressions and heartily disapprove of them! And if by using those words you are accusing me of lying to you, I shall take leave to inform you that I heartily disapprove of that too!"

Mattie blanched at the severity of Esther's words and at her tone, but barely two seconds had passed before she saw the twinkle in the older woman's eye and burst into a gurgle of laughter, "Liar!" she condemned her tormentor and had the satisfaction of seeing Esther's face crease into pleased amusement at the success of her teasing.

"Um… Squirt?" Harm's voice broke into their amusement, and Mattie saw him with a raised eyebrow as he nodded towards Tricia and Frank. Mattie stopped laughing, but with a smile of genuine pleasure on her face she stood, still holding on of Esther's hands and with grave pleasure she said, "Frank and Tricia Burnett, I'd like you to meet someone I love very much, allow me to introduce to you Esther Gale, Catherine's Mom. Esther, this is Tricia and Frank Burnett, Harm's Mom and step-dad."

Tricia carefully transferred Elizabeth back into Harm's care and rose to her feet, and then accompanied by Frank she walked the few steps across the room to take Esther's hand in hers, "I am so very pleased to meet you, Mrs Gale…"

Esther smiled mischievously and cocked her head to one side in her bird-like manner, and looked searchingly at Tricia, "It's Esther, dear, and I hope you don't mind me calling you Tricia?"

"No… of course not, please do…"

Tricia stepped back to allow Frank to greet Esther, and she smiled in obvious delight at his natural politeness and good manners, but still could not resist teasing him, "Ah, so you're the used-car salesman that Harm's so proud of!"

Frank shot a startled glance at a now red-faced Harm, but managed through his surprise to smile and agree, "I am that, Esther, I am that!"

Esther continued her lopsided visual inspection of Tricia, and then said. "You'll have to forgive for not getting up to give you a proper welcome…" a disclaimer Tricia quickly waved off.

Esther nodded and relaxed and smiled, "He's very like you, you know."

Tricia was startled, "Oh… Everyone's always said, and I've always thought that he was so much like his father!"

"Oh, no doubt, no doubt," Esther agreed, "But there's a wealth of you in him too!"

A strangled wail of protest was forced from Harm's lips, "Mom! Esther!"

A burst of laughter from the others was the only comfort his outrage received apart from a tenderly mocking, "Oh, poor baby," from Catherine, which only served to produce a second burst of laughter.

The laughter had two unwanted side effects, firstly it drained Esther of breath and her breathing became laboured, and it woke Elizabeth who signified her displeasure with the proceedings by once again proving that there was nothing wrong with the development of her lungs.

Tricia and Frank exchanged glances while were not lost on Harm as he placed Elizabeth back in Catherine's arms as she quickly unbuttoned her nightshirt, while Mattie stuck her head out into the hallway to summon the orderly to check on Esther.

The commotion died quickly as Elizabeth started feeding; an event which caused Frank and Tricia to excuse themselves from the room, while Marcus, the orderly, checked on Esther's breathing and increased the oxygen flow, easing Esther's breathing which in turn eased Mattie's anxiety. He released the brakes, but was stopped from wheeling the chair away, by Esther's quiet plea, "Just hold on a minute please, I won't have many chances to see my Granddaughter like this!"

Harm, Catherine and Mattie exchanged shocked glances, but it was Mattie who said fiercely, "Stop it, Esther! I won't have you talking like that!"

"Oh, no, dear, nothing like that! I'm a long way from giving up!" Esther chuckled, but Harm and Catherine after each looking at Mattie exchanged a worried look as Esther continued, "It's just that Catherine will be back home in a couple of days, while I'll still be in here, and I'm going to miss so much that I want to see as much as I can while I can!"

Mattie was only partially convinced, "Are you sure?"

"Honest Injun!" Esther averred, her eyes dancing with mischief, "And no, before you ask, I am 'not' trying to snow you!"

"Mrs Gale, I really ought to be getting you back to your room, you know?" Marcus interrupted in his rich, deep voice, the lilting accent of which betrayed his Caribbean origins.

"Very well, young man!" Esther smiled up at him, "You may have the privilege of driving me home! 'Bye 'bye, all!" she twinkled as the burly orderly wheeled her from the room and those who were left could hear her laughing voice scolding as she was wheeled down the hallway, "For heaven's sake, Marcus! Can't you go any faster?"

Harm looked at Catherine who seemed to be dozing while Elizabeth nursed at her breast. Deciding that mother and daughter had had enough excitement for one evening, he called Tricia and Frank back in and roused Catherine long enough for her to acknowledge their goodbyes, and with a promise of a further visit tomorrow, the four members of Catherine's suddenly increased family made a smiling exit.


	26. Chapter 26

**26**

Harm glanced at his watch, only oh nine forty hours, and fought back a yawn for about the twentieth time that morning. Nearly two weeks of almost constantly interrupted sleep was taking its toll on him, making him tired and unusually for him so very short-tempered that his staff, except one, were walking on egg-shells around him.

Both he and Catherine had expected to have their sleep patterns disrupted, but the expectation had not really prepared either of them for the experience. Staying up for the midnight feed had been no hardship at first, but after a week both Harm and Catherine's fatigue levels had risen so that they were both more than ready for bed by twenty two hundred hours. Of course it was harder for Catherine, she had been determined to breast feed Beth, as they'd taken to calling their daughter, throughout, but the ritual of two hourly feeds together with the necessity of changing a wet and or dirty diaper each time had proved just too much. As a result, Catherine had taken to expressing sufficient milk to enable Harm to bottle-feed their baby at least twice each night, a practice which if it allowed Catherine a little extra sleep – they were both woken each time Beth awoke – ensured that Harm got a little less.

Tricia and Frank had stayed for the first week, putting up with having their own nights disturbed and watching over Beth in the afternoons while Catherine grabbed a couple of hours sleep, and then in the early evenings Frank, Harm and Donnie, Catherine's brother who had walked out of a sales symposium in Albuquerque to see his new niece, laboured to finish putting together the nursery. For the moment Beth was sleeping in her crib at the foot of Harm and Catherine's bed, an arrangement not much to Harm's liking but one which he reluctantly accepted, firstly because the nursery despite the best efforts of the three men was still not quite ready, and secondly, and more importantly because it meant that on the occasions when Beth didn't need her overnight diaper changed, Catherine's and his sleep was that much less disturbed.

But Tricia, Frank and Donnie had all had to get back to their own lives over the last weekend and the full weight of Beth's care had fallen on her parents and on Mattie's shoulders.

It had gotten so bad that yesterday he had blown up at Jennifer Coates over an omission for which she had no responsibility whatsoever and had ripped her a new one to such effect that half an hour later she was discovered by Lieutenant Commander Bellingham in the women's restroom, desperately trying to restore her tear ravaged face to a condition fit to return to her work station.

Harm winced as he recalled the aftermath of Lydia Bellingham's discovery, she had rapped smartly on his door and on being bidden to enter, she had approached his desk and then in a deceptively mild tone she had asked, "Do you have a moment, sir?"

Harm bit back a sigh of frustration; his fatigue meant that he was struggling to keep abreast of his work-load, and he didn't really have any spare time, but… "Yeah, go ahead, take a seat…" he offered.

Lydia sat down and neatly crossed her legs, ensuring that she didn't expose too much nylon covered flesh. "Permission to speak freely, sir?"

Harm's mouth pulled down in an expression of displeasure. He knew, he just knew, that he wasn't going to like what he was going to hear, "Granted."

"Sir, we are all very happy for you and Miss Gale, and hope that you have every opportunity to take joy in your daughter." She paused.

"Thank you, Commander," Harm replied.

"Although none of us, with the exception of Mrs Mayberry are parents, we do know that there is a period of adjustment when a baby is added to the family, and that it must be a stressful and tiring time for you all at home, but I wouldn't be doing my job as a colleague if I didn't tell you that you are getting very close to letting your home life affect your work."

Harm leaned forward on his elbows, his fists clenched together, "Just what do you mean by that?" he asked tensely.

"It's one thing when you snap at me, or Faith Coleman or Mike Sheddan; if you go too far with us, we are close enough to you in rank to be able to defend ourselves, but when you take your temper out on enlisted staff, they don't have recourse to the spoken word without the risk of being brought up on charges of insubordination to an officer. So, for you to reduce poor Coates to tears, is, frankly, bullying. It is totally contemptible and should be beneath you, sir!"

Harm blinked, rarely had he been spoken to in such icy tones since he graduated from the academy, but his tired mind could fasten only on one thing that Lydia Bellingham had just said.

"Coates? Coates crying?" His face mirrored both disbelief and shock, "but Jennifer Coates has got one of the strongest characters of anyone I've ever met!"

Lydia shook her head, "You just don't get it, do you?"

"Get what?" a thoroughly confused Harm asked.

Lydia looked at him in surprise. She had only been in post for ten days but she had seen and analysed the dynamic between Coates and Rabb, and her ready sympathies had been engaged. She gave her head a slight shake, "Sir, it's obvious that you and Coates have a history. The fact that she arrived in post the same day I did, and immediately fell into your way of working shows that she's worked with you before, and remarks let drop both by her and Barker last week, strongly suggest that you made a special effort to get her this billet."

"Yes, that's true, I did make a special effort, but… but there is nothing, and there never has been anything improper between the Petty Officer and myself, if that is what you're implying!"

Lydia made an impatient cutting gesture with her open hand, "No, of course not sir! What I'm apparently not very successfully trying to say is that Coates was, or maybe still is, under the impression that you had her posted here because you valued her work as a Legalman and a Yeoman, and then for you to turn around and tear her a new one for something that was not her fault shook her badly. So if you felt the need to tear into anyone for that particular mistake, you should have come to me; I'm the one who missed the deadline, because I hadn't yet read the memorandum!"

"Bu… but I wasn't that hard… on her!" Harm stammered defensively.

"Yes, you were sir! You had Coates report to you in here and both Faith Coleman and I, in our office, and almost certainly Mike Sheddan in his office, could hear quite plainly, practically every word you said to her. And it wasn't particularly pleasant hearing. And of course, what makes it worse," she added in an almost inconsequential manner, "is that for some obscure and probably quite ridiculous reason, the girl practically hero-worships you!"

"She does?" Harm asked in surprise.

"Uh… yes, sir!" It was Lydia's turn to be surprised although she masked it well. 'Surely, he can 't be that oblivious!' she thought. But then looking more carefully she could see no sign of guile or deceit in his face or his body language.

"I don't know why she should!" Harm grumbled, and then looked across at his accuser with a rueful grin, "Was I really that much of an asshole?"

Lydia Bellingham let her stern expression relax and ventured a grin of her own, "Yes, sir! I'm afraid you were!"

Harm leaned back in his chair, and steepled his fingers in front of his chest as he gazed reflectively at his subordinate. "So… do you think I have sunk so low in her estimation that I may never get back in her good books?"

"It's no joking matter, sir," Lydia replied gravely, "I think that you're going to have to do some serious grovelling. A good part of Coates' meltdown was, I suspect, due to a feeling that you had betrayed her. And that is not something that is easily put right."

Harm nodded thoughtfully, "And because of our different ranks, grovelling is not going to be an easy thing to carry out without appearing patronising is it?"

"Precisely, sir! And now if you'll excuse me, I have an overdue memorandum to read, and from what I understand of its contents, an overdue report to write!"

Harm nodded, "Yes, of course," and then as Lydia rose from her chair, Harm continued, "And remind me not to allow you to speak freely again! You just tore me more of a new one than Catherine ever did!" But then he sobered. "Thank you, Lydia, it seems that you delivered a badly needed wake-up call that I didn't even know I needed!"

This time Lydia's grin widened, "It was my pleasure, sir," she said primly.

"I'll bet it was!" Harm laughed, "Go on, get out of here!"

"Aye, aye, sir!"

That had been yesterday afternoon, and now it was time, or it would be in about twenty minutes when Jennifer brought him his mid-morning coffee, for him to try and make amends. Those twenty minutes seemed to crawl past and with each sweep of the second hand around his watch face he felt his stomach tightening. 'This is ridiculous!' he told himself, 'I'm her CO, she's much younger than I am! I'm in charge here. So why the hell am I getting nervous!'

It had surprised him how much Lydia Bellingham's chewing him out had shaken him, not the chewing out itself, but the way in which it highlighted his recent behaviour. He had been distracted all evening, and once a yawning Mattie had taken herself upstairs and Catherine had given Beth her ten o'clock feed, she had tackled him before they both fell asleep.

"OK, sailor, spill 'em!" she had commanded as she snuggled under the comforter with him, lying on her side to face him, with her head propped on one hand, "C'mon, spill the beans!"

"Um… it's just some work stuff," he temporised, "nothing for you to worry about. So let's just turn out the light and get some sleep while we can, OK?"

Suiting his actions to his words he stretched out his arm and turned off the light on his nightstand, plunging the room into darkness. Immediately he felt the weight of Catherine's body across his chest, her breasts pressing into him, and he squirmed into the position he knew she found most comfortable, waiting for her head to come to rest in the hollow of his shoulder. This time however, Catherine continued to stretch over him and with a sharp 'click' of the switch she turned on the light again.

"Nope, not going to work!" she told him as she loomed over him, half her weight now supported in the hand she had used on the light-switch.

"What's not going to work?" he had parried more in hope than in expectation of putting her off.

"Trying to pretend that whatever's bothering you isn't important!"

Harm raised a hand to cup her face and gently followed the line of her cheekbone with his thumb... "How come you know me so well?" he said half amused, half suspicious.

Catherine laughed softly, "Easy, you're not exactly an international man of mystery! I can read you like an open book, and it's because I love you!" she answered before she dropped her head and gently kissed the tip of his nose.

"H'mm… a little bit off target there," Harm complained.

"And it's going to stay that way for another month, Harmon Rabb!" Catherine scolded him gently, "but stop trying to distract me, what's wrong?"

Harm sighed, only rarely did Catherine get the bit between her teeth – Mattie's inclusion in her family was one case in point – but Harm was beginning to recognise the signs, "its Jennifer," he said slowly.

"What the pretty brunette who came to see Beth in hospital? The Petty Officer you worked with at Falls Church, who saved Bud Robert's life?"

"Yep," Harm agreed morosely.

"Is she not working out in her new job? I thought you wanted her there especially because she is so good at her job?"

"She is, but I've been a… well, let's just say that my attitude at work this last week or so hasn't shown me in the best of lights. To put the icing on the cake, I really lost my temper this morning and I really chewed Jennifer's head off for something that wasn't her fault." Harm paused and made a face that reflected his distaste for his behaviour. "It upset her so much that apparently she burst into tears, not something she's done for a very long time. And I need to make it up to her, and that's what's making me think."

Catherine subsided on to the bed, lying on her stomach with her head propped in her hands, "Umm… so why not just invite her for dinner. Her and her boyfriend?"

Harm shook his head, "No can do. Even if she's got a boyfriend, and I haven't heard her mention one, she's enlisted and I'm commissioned. Having her here for dinner could so easily be misinterpreted as inappropriate behaviour."

"That's ridiculous!" Catherine complained, "How could it be inappropriate if I'm here?"

"Umm… that could give rise to even more scurrilous suspicions," Harm replied, "Absurd as it may seem, but as far as the navy is concerned, even the appearance of impropriety can be enough to raise charges of acting in manner likely to bring discredit on the service. I certainly don't want that on my record, and I'm not going to risk Jennifer having it marked up on hers. She's had a lot to cope with in the past, and over the couple of years I've known her, she's done a damn good job of turning her life around!"

"H'mm… tricky… so she's more than a subordinate, but less than a friend?"

"No! I definitely think of her as a friend, a good friend, and if you'd ever heard her bringing me back down earth when I indulge in a flight of fancy, you'd be hard put to decide which one of us was in charge!" Harm grinned.

"So… would she misinterpret a small gift as a means of saying sorry?"

"What do you have in mind?" Harm asked. An officer giving a gift to an enlisted woman could be even more dangerous than a dinner invitation.

"Oh… it would be nothing extravagant, and nothing permanent. A bouquet of flowers, or maybe some chocolates? Nothing grand, but something that shows how much you appreciate her."

"OK… I'll think about it." Harm promised.

"Good, just goes to show that you should have told me as soon as you got in, then you wouldn't have worried all evening!" Catherine told him smugly. Then as she pulled the comforter up over her shoulder and wormed her way to lie pressed along his side, she yawned and said, "Oh, yes. You can turn off the light now!"

xxvi-xxvi-xxvi-xxvi-xxvi

Harm's reverie was interrupted by the expected knock at his door, shaking himself alert he looked at his watch, although the twenty minutes had seemed to ooze past like molasses he was surprised at how quickly they had in fact zipped past!

"Enter!" he called out.

The door opened to admit Jennifer Coates, who crossed the carpet to his desk and said somewhat stiffly, "Your coffee, sir."

"Thank you, Coates," Harm answered as she placed the cup on his desk near to his hand. He looked at her closely, but was shocked when he realised that she was refusing to meet his gaze. This was obviously much worse than even Lydia Bellingham had told him. He gulped as he stood and said gently, "Please sit down, Jennifer."

That did bring her eyes to meet his as she stared at him in total surprise. Sure, he had once or twice in the past called her Jen, but never in the office, and she could not remember a time when he had ever used the full form of her name, "S… sir?"

"Take a seat, please Jennifer," he said as he moved around the desk to perch on the front edge of it.

Stunned, Jen did as she was told, carefully smoothing her skirt beneath her, "Sir?" she asked again, this time with more control over her voice.

Harm cleared his throat, and began uneasily, "Jennifer, I lost my temper with you yesterday. I've been annoyed with you in the past, and you'll probably succeed in annoying me again in the future. But yesterday was different. I went well beyond what would have been necessary even if it had been your fault that the reports were overdue, and I took my bad temper out on you unnecessarily. I can only plead tiredness as an excuse, and hope that you'll be able to forgive me some day. Jennifer, I am so very, very sorry. I value your skills, experience, hard work and yes, your friendship, far too highly to throw it all away through some stupid dumbass temper tantrum. I asked the SecNav to approve this billet for you because I need you here, I can't imagine me running an office without your support, in fact I am dead certain that I wouldn't be able to run an office – any office – without you to run interference for me. So, can you please forgive me, and let me off the hook this one time? I can't promise that I'll never tear you a new one again, but I can promise that I will try never again to be so unjust. So… friends again?"

Jennifer blinked to clear the tears from her eyes, 'Why the hell was the Commander apologising to her? It was she that had let him down by not chasing Commander Bellingham for that damn' report. She had been so ashamed of her lapse that she felt that she had let herself down so badly too, and that was what had upset her even more. She was so embarrassed by her failing after everything the Commander had done for her in the past, that she had been quite unable to look him in the face. And now here he was apologising to her, and asking for her forgiveness!'

"Not necessary, sir!" she gulped. "It _was_ my fault. I should have pressed Commander Bellingham…"

"Jennifer, Jennifer… stop, please… I don't accept that it was your fault, and I'm not going to sit here and listen to you say it was, but neither am I going to sit here and argue about it with you!" He smiled, "One thing that living with a partner has taught me is that those sorts of arguments are never worth the breath wasted on them! So… are we friends again?"

"No, sir," Jennifer stood, "Still friends, I hope."

"Indeed we are!" Harm lifted the top file folder from his in-tray and picked up the gift-wrapped box of Kingsbury Chocolate Truffles that he had detoured into Alexandria to buy earlier that morning, "And from one friend to another?" he offered Jen the box.

"Oh… I couldn't possibly…"

"You'll have to Jennifer; Catherine won't touch them, she's too concerned on getting her pre-Beth figure back, and I won't give them to Mattie, getting a teenager to eat a healthy diet is hard enough without feeding her chocolate, and if you won't take them, then they'll have to go into the trash!" He ended shrewdly, well aware of Jen's hatred of waste.

"OK, sir," she grinned, equally well aware that he had just played her, "I'll take them, but I'll be handing them 'round to the other girls… so they can all forgive you too!"

Harm shook his head and for the second time in two days he found himself laughingly ordering a subordinate, "G'wan, get outta here!"

Jen smiled, an honest-to-goodness-hidden-dimple-revealing-smile, "Aye, aye, sir!" and executed a smart about-face as she headed for the door.

As she turned something about her appearance that had been vaguely bothering Harm clicked into place. "Jennifer, is your hair wet?" he asked in disbelief, his experiences with past long-haired girlfriends had instilled in him the knowledge that they never put up their hair while it retained even the slightest degree of moisture.

Jen shrugged, "Four female Petty Officers in a one bathroom apartment, all trying to shower at around the same time. It's not a pretty sight, sir. And then one of the others broke my hair dryer this morning…"

Harm nodded his head in recognition of Jen's plight, although he had never had full-time room-mates since he'd graduated from the academy he had as a junior officer shared a cabin when deployed on board various aircraft carriers. "H'mm… OK… but be careful, I don't want you catching a cold! I can't have my Legalman off sick because she went out in November with a wet head!"

"No, sir!" Jen twinkled at him, her sunny nature reasserting itself now that she knew that Harm wasn't, and had never been, seriously pissed at her.

Harm returned to his seat and picked up his coffee, grimacing as he realised that it has cooled considerably during his reconciliation with Jennifer, resigning himself to a less than satisfactory drink, he raised it to his lips, but stopped and put the cup down again as the shrill ringing of his phone demanded his attention, "Rabb!" he said into the mouthpiece.

"I have Miss Gale on the line for you, sir," Jen told him.

Not sure whether to be pleased at the prospect of hearing her voice, or to dread the arrival of bad news, Harm said as levelly as he could, "Put her through please, Coates."

He heard the click as the last connection was made, "Hey, spook, what's up?"

"_Hey, yourself, sailor_," Harm could hear the smile in Catherine's voice and relaxed as she continued, "_It's not bad news, well, at least I don't think it is! But Mattie and I took Beth for a walk for half an hour or so, and when we got back home the mailman had called. There's a letter here addressed to both of us from Social Services…_"

"But you said not bad news?" Harm asked hopefully.

"_No… not exactly, it's from a Morgan Watley at Social Services, he's coming to make a home visit to see that we've got the right sort of home for a teenaged girl..._"

"Well, we've been expecting that," Harm interrupted.

"_Yeah, we have… but here's the thing. He's coming this evening at six o'clock_!"

"Whoa! That's not a lot of notice!" Harm protested.

"_No… no. it's not… but the letter is dated last Wednesday, and the envelope is postmarked Thursday… so it's not his fault_."

"Maybe not… but it's still damn' short notice!"

"_Yeah, I know… that's why I called, to give you a heads up. Can you get back home for six_?"

"Hey, I'll have to, won't I?" Harm replied, resigning himself to making the best of a bad job.

"_OK, see you then_!"

"Yeah, g'bye sweetheart. I love you!"

"_I love you too!"_ Catherine replied, and then Harm heard the buzz of a terminated call.

Harm replaced the 'phone in its hook and then pressed the 'call' button in his intercom, "Coates, get hold of Penny Mayberry please, and see if the SecNav can fit me in before sixteen hundred hours today. Something's come up at home, and I'll need to secure by sixteen thirty."

"_Aye, aye, sir_!" Jen paused and then with the concern obvious in her voice, she cautiously asked, "_There's nothing wrong with anyone at home, sir?"_

"No, nothing wrong, Coates, it's something we've been expecting, but it's just happened at very short notice. If the SecNav can see me today, I'll need a print out of my anti-piracy recommendations, so can you make that a priority, please?"

"_Yes, sir_!"

Harm released the button and returned his attention to the intimidating stack of files in his in-try, and with a rueful smile, took the top one and opened it on his blotter.

xxvi-xxvi-xxvi-xxvi-xxvi

Morgan Watley turned out to be a large, imposing African American man in his forties, in a dark suit with white shirt and a sober tie, but with a shaved head and a deep, warm voice that reminded Harm of Chaplain Turner. He also possessed a direct no-nonsense manner and appeared to be completely unimpressed by the wings and ribbons on Harm's Service Dress Blues.

He had introduced himself and produced his credentials without being asked and had then said, "Rather than me grilling the two of you, why don't you give me the nickel tour of the place, and then if I have any questions, I can ask them?"

Harm and Catherine exchanged glances, and Catherine answered for them both, "Sure, why not? But if you don't mind, I'll leave it to Harm. I'm about to be needed in the nursery!"

Both men stood and watched her head for the stairs and Watley turned to Harm, "Nursery?" he asked with raised eyebrows, making a note on the clipboard that Harm guessed accompanied him everywhere.

"Two week old daughter," Harm responded with a proud smile, "and she seems to have chronometer style accuracy when it comes to timing her feeds!"

For a second a similar smile flashed across Watley's face, "They do that, don't they!" he said reminiscently, but once again was all business.

Harm showed him around the first floor, simply naming the purpose of the still somewhat sketchily furnished rooms was sufficient for the visitor; his eyes were everywhere looking for everything and missing nothing.

On the second floor, Harm pointed out the two main bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms and the third bedroom, next door to the last bathroom and then the connecting door which led to the rooms over the garage, the first room of which, once completed, would be doing duty for the nursery, and the second room was to be a play area once Beth was big enough to need one.

Watley nodded, "And Miss Johnson?"

Harm led the way back down the hall, "You'll understand that I'm not going to disturb Catherine and Beth in our room, especially when she's nursing." His tone of voice left Watley in doubt that it wasn't a question.

"No question of that, Commander Rabb, I have no interest in your own living arrangements, my only concern is that you provide a suitable and comfortable environment for the young lady for whose guardianship you are applying."

Harm nodded as he stopped outside Mattie's room, knocked, and called out, "Man on deck!"

Watley looked vaguely amused, "Now what?"

"We wait, and if there's no answer within thirty seconds then we go in!"

Barely had Harm spoken, however, when Mattie opened the door, "Is this him?" she asked bluntly.

"Manners, Squirt!" Harm chided her gently as she stepped back to allow them entry.

Watley took a minute or so to just look around, only to be challenged by Mattie's "Well, have you seen enough? This is the bedroom, and through there," she indicated the other door, "is my bathroom!"

Watley blinked at Mattie's forthright delivery, but acknowledged her contribution with a dip of his head and a grave, "Thank you, do you mind if I take a look?"

Mattie sighed, not quite happy with having a stranger poke his nose into her most private room, but grudgingly said, "If you must!"

"Thank you," Watley replied and crossed the room, merely opening the connecting door and looking at the well-appointed bathroom for a few seconds, and then turning back to Mattie said in his grave manner, "Thank you, young lady. We'll leave you in peace now."

Mattie unaccustomed to being spoken to so formally, could only muster a muttered, "Yeah, 'bye," as she dug her sock clad toes into the bedroom carpet.

Watley waited until Harm had closed the bedroom door and then said, "Well, I reckon I've seen enough, but I do have one or two questions to ask and comments to make."

Harm indicated that Watley should precede him downstairs and followed the visitor when to his surprise he made his into the kitchen. Looking at the notes he had already made, Watley summed up what he had found, "So far this what we have established, smoke detector, sufficient heat, adequate light, working telephone and working toilet…" he pulled open the fridge door and then stood back in surprise, "Do you primarily survive on beer and tofu?"

Harm looked a little sheepish, "There are other things in there, but yeah, we're a bit low on supplies right now, with the new baby we haven't had much opportunity for going to the store, so until the weekend we'd kinda decided to order-in."

Watley then turned his attention to the kitchen island and turned one of the wine bottles to inspect its label, "Do you have a problem with alcohol?" he asked accusingly.

"No, the wine's used more for cooking," Harm replied, "Mr Watley, I'm a pretty good cook when I set my hand to it."

"You have a child in the house, so you cook every day, whether you feel like it or not, Commander Rabb!"

Watley contented himself with an "H'mm," as he made another note on his clipboard, and wandered through into the lounge, "Do you have a firearm in the house?"

"Yes, sir, but it's under lock and key."

"You ever have cause to employ it?" Watley demanded looking up from yet another note.

"Once or twice in the line of duty."

"Aren't you a lawyer, Commander Rabb?" a surprised Watley asked.

"I'm also war veteran, a naval officer and a qualified F-Fourteen pilot!" Harm said firmly.

"Uh-huh, how long did you spend living alone?"

"Ever since I left the academy up until a few months ago."

"What kind of relationship did you have with your father?"

Harm's face went blank, "I didn't have much of a chance to build one with him, sir. He went Missing in Action when I was five."

For some reason Harm's answer seemed to take Watley aback, and he seemed to hesitate before he asked his next question, "What do you know about raising children?"

"Honestly? Not a lot."

"I hope you have a better answer when you appear at the custody hearing!" Watley told him.

"I intend to… but… loo… look I… I'm playing catch-up right now Mister Watley."

Watley didn't appear to be impressed as he wandered, with Harm trailing him, into the den and picked up from Harm's desk a book that had caught his eye, " 'The Adolescent Girl, A Study In Pathology'," he read aloud the title, replacing the book and then picking up the one it had been lying on top of, " 'Between Sixteen and Sex, Raising a Teenage Girl' You seem to be prepared for the worst."

Harm looked him straight in the eyes, "I'm a fighter pilot, Mister Watley. We prepare for the worst; that way we cut down on surprises!"

"Have you ever crashed?" Watley asked curiously.

"Oh yeah!"

Something in Harm's voice or maybe his expression caused Watley to pursue his questions, "More than once?"

"Four times." Harm answered matter of factly.

Watley's voice rose nearly an octave in surprise, "And you intend to keep flying, Commander?"

"Yes, I do."

Watley blew out a breath of astonishment, his cheeks plumping with the effort, "I'll say this about you Commander, you're refreshingly candid." With that the home inspector from social services made his somewhat bemused farewells and the last Harm saw of him was from the front porch as Watley walked down the path to his waiting car, shaking his head as he did so.

Harm became aware of a presence at his shoulder and without turning to look he knew it was Catherine. And so it proved to be, with fed, burped and sleepy Beth against her shoulder. Harm smiled and without a word took Beth into his arms, his smile growing in warmth as the infant opened her eyes and gazed owlishly at him with deep blue but unfocussing eyes, before giving a further gentle burp and letting her eyelids close.

Catherine smiled at the picture the two made, and then lifted her face to look Harm in the eye, "Well, how did it go?" she asked.

Harm considered for a moment, "I think it went OK," he finally answered, "but given the chance there are one or two questions I'd have answered differently. But… yeah, I think we did OK."

"Good!" Catherine smiled in satisfaction, "Now come on in and order dinner for us big people. I'm feeling the pinch, and I'm absolutely certain that Mattie will claim she is starving!"

"None whatsoever!" Harm agreed with a laugh that disturbed the dozing baby in his arms. Both adults froze with looks of apprehension on their faces until Beth settled down again. With mock sighs of relief and an exaggerated mopping of their brows, Harm and Catherine retreated into their home, to put Beth in her crib while dinner was ordered and eaten, all in the short space of time before their daughter demanded that her needs be seen to again!

xxvi-xxvi-xxvi-xxvi-xxvi

The following morning seemed to have been designed deliberately with the aim of making his temper erupt again. It had been his turn to deal with Beth's oh four hundred hours feed, and as usual by that stage of the night she was also wet and dirty, and by the time his sleep deprived brain had remembered its way to operational success it was nearly oh four thirty hours. Realising that any attempt to get back to sleep would only result in oversleeping, and that lying awake in bed would only disturb Catherine, Harm quietly showered and shaved, and then dressed in shoes, pants, shirt and tie, carrying his jacket, he made his way downstairs and indulged himself in a bowl of hot oatmeal loaded with dried fruit and a pot of industrial strength coffee. Now that Mattie was openly drinking coffee, he had come to the conclusion that it was pointless depriving himself of one of the necessities of life.

So it was with temporarily restored morale that he had at oh six thirty kissed Catherine and Beth goodbye (Mattie was still hibernating at that, for her, ungodly hour of the day) and climbed into the Lexus to head for the Pentagon. It was at that point that his day had started to unravel. Barely two miles down the road he became aware that the Lexus' handling had deteriorated badly, and with a sinking feeling he pulled over to the side of the road. Dismounting from the vehicle, a walk around to the passenger side and a cursory glance revealed the source of the problem. The passenger's side front tyre was as flat as a pancake. Cursing inaudibly Harm slipped off his jacket, shivering as the early morning late November chill bit through his shirt and t-shirt and opening the Lexus's rear hatch he wrestled the spare wheel, jack and tyre iron on to the road, knowing that his shirt would be ruined and that practically his first stop at the Pentagon would have to be at the Pentagon Mall in order to buy a new shirt!

The delay caused by the flat meant that he was caught up in the rat runners who at this time of day sought a way through the centre of the area circumscribed by the Beltway in order to avoid delays on that notorious road, only to find themselves the cause of many more delays as they tried to use residential and business streets as commuter routes. Caught in one tailback at a particularly difficult junction, Harm pressed back against his seat and stretched, carefully positioning his feet between the pedals. He had just started to relax his posture when a jolt threw him forward in his seat, while his head snapped back. For a moment he wondered what the hell had just happened, and then realisation dawned. The Lexus had just been rear-ended! Cautiously moving his head Harm was relieved to find that he hadn't suffered whiplash, and once again climbed out of the Lexus, this time to exchange details with the brash salesman type in the Dodge Stratus, who first tried to deny that it was his fault, only to be verbally demolished by a fuming naval attorney. But this too added time to the journey and left Harm looking at a moderately damaged Lexus, but the car was sure to be in the body-shop for at least a couple of days, and that would only be after Harm's insurance company had convinced the salesman's insurance company to pay up.

xxvi-xxvi-xxvi-xxvi-xvi

By the time Harm was ready to sit at his desk he was at least forty minutes adrift, and a harassed-looking Jennifer Coates was providing him with a cup of coffee, "Sir, the SecNav wants to see you in his office in…" she glanced at her watch, "ten minutes!" she informed him.

Harm took a gulp of the coffee and then drew a sharp breath to try and cool his scalded mouth. Just for once the coffee had been damned hot! Wincing in discomfort he asked his Legalman, "Did he give any hint what he wanted, Coates?"

Jen could only smile apologetically, "Sorry, sir, no. I had the feeling that he didn't think I had a need to know."

"OK, Coates not to worry… Jennifer! Is your hair wet _again_?"

"Yes, sir. Sorry sir, I didn't manage to get a new hair-dryer yesterday, and it was the usual scrimmage for the shower again this morning…"

"We'll talk about this later!"

"Yes, sir!"

It was nearly an hour later that a grim-faced Harm stalked back into the outer office where Jen was busy typing at her keyboard. All the positive influence of Coates' early morning efficiency had been eroded by the SecNav's obsession with the minutiae of Harm's report into piracy and his recommendations of how the pirates should be dealt with. It had been a useless waste of his breath when he had tried to point out that he had fulfilled his remit in producing exactly what the SecNav had asked for, a broad policy document for consideration by the Navy Counsel General. As a result he had been forced to take back his original document now covered in nit-picking notations in an almost illegible scribble in the SecNav's favoured green ink.

Seeing Jen with her head down, Harm decided that he could profitably use the time it took to brew a fresh pot of coffee in gathering the shreds of his frayed temper and midway across the office he veered off in the direction of the storage closet turned kitchenette. Pulling the door open, he stopped and stared. True it had been a storage closet in a previous existence, but Harm was not prepared to see three sets of enlisted female's winter working dress hanging from the storage racks that now held the makings of coffee, tea and chocolate, neither was he prepared for the sight of three large suitcases stacked against the far wall. A single glance at the rate and rating badge sewn on to the uniforms was sufficient to tell Harm that they could only belong to Jennifer Coates, and he spun around fighting to keep a grip on his anger, but determined to find just what sort of game the young woman was playing.

Closing the door behind him he saw and heard that Jennifer was on the phone and her voice seemed to be a mixture of anger and despair, "How much?" she practically yelled, "Please tell me that you are joking! No… I don't have that much on hand! Great! Fine!" She slammed the 'phone down and then saw to her horror that her yelling had drawn the attention of all four of her officers, all of whom were now standing in her office with looks of interest – angered interest in one case – on their faces.

"Coates," Harm's voice was icy calm, "My office, now!"

Jennifer Coates drew herself up into a brace, "Aye, aye, sir!" she snapped but Harm was amazed to see that her eyes were awash, and it didn't need Lydia Bellingham's cautionary "Commander?" to remind him to tread softly.

Returning to the coffee room he put the machine on to brew and as soon as sufficient for two cups had filtered through, he poured them, leaving his black, but adding plenty of creamer for Jennifer, the way he knew she liked her coffee.

In his office Jen was standing at 'Parade Rest' when he entered, and for a moment he felt a pang of guilt for leaving her like that instead of telling her to sit while he made the drinks. Mentally giving himself a slap upside the head, he said, "Sit down please, Jennifer," and waiting until she had done so, he handed over her cup of coffee, and sat in the other visitors' chair alongside her.

Jen's mouth dropped open, and she took the offered cup almost by reflex, "Sir?"

"Drink your coffee, Jennifer, while it's still hot! The inquisition can wait for a minute or two!"

"Sir!" Jen obediently sipped at her coffee, answering Harm's inquiry into how it was with a somewhat embarrassed, "Fine, sir, thank you."

The two sat in silence while they drank their coffee, and it wasn't until Jen had put her empty cup down on the desk that Harm turned to her and said, "OK, Jennifer, what's going on?"

"Going on, sir?"

"Jennifer, for the last two days you've turned to with wet hair. Today I find what seems to be half your wardrobe hanging in the kitchenette or mini-galley, whatever you want to call it. And then I find you practically in tears yelling down the 'phone about money you don't have!" Harm paused, "Living in the DC area isn't cheap, Jennifer. Have you been kicked out of your apartment because you're behind with the rent?"

Jen was horrified that Harm could even think that, "Oh, no sir! Nothing like that!" and in response to his gesture indicating the she should continue, she added, "It's like I told you yesterday sir, four girls trying to live in an apartment that's really too small for three, not enough storage space, only one shower…"

"But it hasn't been a problem until now, Jennifer, why's that suddenly changed?"

"Uh… that's because of Mel's boyfriend, sir…" Jen seemed to hesitate and then made up her mind, and plunged ahead. "Mel's boyfriend's a Marine Sergeant and was on the security detachment here, sir. Mel works in procurement, she's a Yeoman Two, but then about six weeks ago he got posted to base security in Okinawa. Well, Mel was in the habit of spending most nights at her boyfriend's place and had stowed a lot of her stuff there, as well as the stuff they had collected together. Well, when he left, he gave up his apartment and Mel and all her stuff and all their stuff moved back on a full time basis, and it's gotten difficult, and getting more difficult every day."

Harm sat back and looked levelly at her, "OK, that explains the clothes dump, and even the wet hair, but what was all the shouting about money?"

"Oh…" Jen reddened in embarrassment, "That was all Mel too… It seems she's been waking up, or staying up in the middle of the night to make 'phone calls – hour long 'phone calls to her boyfriend…"

"In Okinawa?" Harm asked incredulously.

"Yes sir. So when the 'phone bill came in it wasn't far off four figures. We, the rest of the girls were blazing mad, and we told Mel that there was no way we were going to help pay for her love life. She said not to worry that she would take care of it, but she didn't. And now the 'phone company have cut the line and are coming after all of us for payment of the bill and penalty charges and a hefty charge to reconnect the service, once the past dues are paid, but they want it all up front!"

Harm winced, "OK, we'll get the LSO to take a look at this for you, see if we can find a way out of the mess that won't cost you an arm and a leg." Harm thought for a few moments more, and then looked searchingly at his Petty Officer, "Jennifer, if it's not too personal a question, how old are you now, twenty eight isn't it?"

"Twenty nine now, sir. Birthday was on the fourth!"

"You kept that quiet!" Harm admonished her.

"Didn't want to make a fuss, sir. It's different for a guy, I guess, but getting close to the big three oh for a woman..." Jennifer managed a grin as she said that.

"Well, twenty eight or twenty nine, Petty Officer, you should be in a more settled domestic environment than sharing with three other women!"

"Oh, I know sir! I've had a feeling things were going to come to this stage, or something similar, and I was talking it over with Lynne Barker before she left, and we've both been looking for something more civilised that we could share, but finding somewhere safe and affordable isn't too easy on an E5 and E6 pay."

"No… I don't suppose it is!" Harm agreed, his mind racing. "Jennifer, write down how much you and Barker are able to pay for rent each month."

"Sir?"

"Just do it Jennifer, but bear in mind you're going to have to pay bills on top of rent!"

"I'm not likely to forget that, sir!" Jen said reproachfully, handing him a sheet of paper she had snagged from his phone message pad.

Harm looked at the figure and whistled, "Is that just your contribution, as half contribution or a combined contribution?"

"That's the theoretical maximum we can pay, and leave enough for bills and day to day living expenses, sir." Jen's shoulders drooped, "It's pretty pathetic isn't it?"

For a moment Harm had toyed with the idea of offering Jen the vacant lease on the loft near Union Station, but had dismissed that thought almost immediately. The risks faced by two attractive, unaccompanied women in that neighbourhood were just too horrendous to contemplate. "Well, it's going to be difficult to find anywhere with that as a figure, but I know a couple of people in the business – my step dad for one – and maybe if we put our heads together, we can find somewhere for you. But in the meantime don't stop looking!" he said comfortingly.

"No, sir!"

"Fine," Harm scrutinised her face, the signs of her incipient tears had vanished so he smiled encouragingly and said, "OK then, Petty Officer, back to the grindstone!"

"Aye, aye, sir!" Jen grinned cheerfully, stood and was about to leave, when Harm called her back.

"The coffee cups, Legalman?"

This time Jen's grin was even wider and her "Aye, aye, sir!" even crisper.


	27. Chapter 27

**27**

Harm tried to put Jen's troubles on his mental back burner as he opened his piracy report and a new legal pad, trying to decipher the SecNav's abominable handwriting and compose answers to the points the politician had raised. Harm found it particularly exasperating to have to do this; if the SecNav had asked, in the first place, for a detailed report and recommendations then it would have been done, completed and submitted. Now, as he looked through the points the SecNav had raised at their meeting it was going to take at least a further two days to find the answers and re-draft the report.

It was nearly lunch time by the time Harm had made the last notation, filling four legal sheets in his angular handwriting, and stretching his back and rolling his head Harm gathered the report and locked it securely in his desk drawer. Collecting his cover he headed for the office door and walked straight into what could only be termed a situation.

Jennifer Coates stood rigid behind her desk her face clearly showing the contempt she felt for the man standing in front of it; a man who Harm instantly recognised as Major Frank McBurney, the prosecutor from Harm's court martial, his face fixed in a mask of anger. To one side Lydia Bellingham stood poised to intervene if she thought it necessary while Faith Coleman, one hand to her mouth, stood in her office doorway. Just entering the outer office from his own sanctuary, Harm's third attorney, Major Mike Sheddan stopped his hand on his office door handle.

Harm slightly raised an eyebrow, "Good morning, Major," he said in a cool, calm tone. McBurney turned his attention from Jen to Harm and drew himself up into the position of attention.

"Good morning, sir," he replied in an icy voice.

"What brings you here today, Major? Business or pleasure?"

"Definitely the latter, sir," McBurney replied his tone still cold and still stood at attention; Harm had deliberately not told him to stand easy. "I have a lunch engagement with Commander Coleman."

Harm turned an inquiring eye on Faith Coleman, who blushed and said, "That's correct, sir."

Harm nodded and turned back to McBurney, "Well, if that is the case, Major, may I suggest that you escort Commander Coleman to wherever it is you are lunching?"

"Sir, yessir!" The Marine responded.

"Very well, carry on."

McBurney relaxed and said in invitation, "Faith?"

"Yes, yes, of course!" Faith Coleman grabbed her purse and cover and almost scurried past Harm, keeping her eyes firmly fixed on the floor until she was past Harm, but then shooting a venomous glare at Jen, whose expression as she continued to stare at McBurney was one of extreme disdain.

The tension in the office almost visibly dissipated as the door closed behind McBurney and Coleman. Harm looked around benignly, "Well, shall we all go about our business?" he suggested lightly. A suggestion from a superior officer is not, however, to be taken lightly, and within seconds Lydia Bellingham and Mike Shadden had disappeared into their own offices, and Harm was hard put to restrain a grin as the image of Lewis Carroll's White Rabbit diving into the rabbit hole came to mind. Jen too, losing her scornful expression had returned to her seat and was once more trying to concentrate on her work, but Harm could tell by the rigidity of her shoulders that she was still seething.

"It's lunchtime, Coates," he said calmly.

"Yes, sir," Jen acknowledged looking up from her PC's monitor.

Harm nodded, "Walk with me, Legalman."

"Aye, aye, sir!" Jen responded, salvaging her purse and cover from the bottom drawer of her desk, and adjusting the location board to show that Commander Rabb, Lieutenant Commander Coleman and Legalman One Coates were all out of the office.

Harm led Jen on a leisurely walk through the halls, heading for the Pentagon Mall where one of the eateries had an enclosed, but glazed seating area where he felt they could spend their lunchtime and talk without fear of intrusion or interruption, and on reaching his planned destination, he turned to Jen with a slight smile, Why don't you go and grab us a table – a window table if you can, while I get us coffees and a sandwich."

A by now nervous Jen – Harm hadn't said a word to her as they'd traversed the complex of hallways and stairs to arrive at the eatery – nodded and muttered, "Yes, sir," veering off in search of a table.

Harm joined the line at the cafeteria style counter selecting an egg salad baguette for himself and a ham salad baguette for Jen, he grinned at the thought of Jen's reaction if he'd brought her a meat-free lunch! Collecting two coffees and paying for the selection he looked around to see Jen standing at a window table, and nodding to show that he had seen her he wove his way across the room to her.

"I like this place," Harm said inconsequentially, as he paused between bites of his sandwich. It's one of the few places I've found that suit me. In most cafeterias here, one sandwich isn't enough for lunch, but two are too many…" he paused to take a sip of his coffee, "and the brew isn't bad either!"

He tilted his head slightly to one side to gauge the effect his flow of small talk was having on his companion, and after a few minutes of watching her picking at her food, he was relieved when the rigidity in her shoulders disappeared and she picked up her sandwich and took a healthy bite out of it.

"Of course," he continued expansively as he sat back and wiped lips on a paper napkin, "It's not as good here as at Cathy's Cookie Corner back in Falls Church, or Ed's Diner on the I-95."

Harm's last comment caused Jen to choke as an attempted swallow conflicted with an irresistible urge to laugh. Ed's Diner about halfway between DC and Norfolk, was, for the JAG community, a byword for bad food and worse service.

Once Jen had stopped coughing and had wiped the tears from her eyes, Harm leaned forward and asked gently, "OK, Jennifer, what was all that in the office all about?"

Jen's eyes flashed fire for an instant, "That… man!" she exclaimed, "Strolls in to my office, and just says, 'Good morning Jennifer,' as if he knew me and we were friends! He was way out of line! Let alone that he is an officer and his use of my name was totally inappropriate, the idea of he and I being on any sort of friendly terms after he tricked me on the witness stand like that is… is just… so wrong! And the when I told him to address me as was customary between an officer and enlisted, he threatened to charge me with using insubordinate language to a superior officer."

Harm shook his head gently in memory of the occasions when Jen had put him right, "And were you insubordinate to him Jennifer?"

"No sir, of course not!" Jen protested and then as an embarrassed flush crept up her cheeks, "well… maybe I was just a little bit cheeky!"

"Well, don't be Jennifer! Look I do appreciate your defence of me, not just over Loren Singer's case, but for every time you've defended me or covered for me, and I've a pretty good idea that there are more instances than I am aware of, although I did hear through scuttlebutt that you told the admiral off for being pig-headed, stubborn and unfair."

Jen gasped, blushing again, "Oh! Where did you hear… Of course! Lieutenant Sims!"

"You might think so," Harm said straight-faced as he fought down his grin, "but I couldn't possibly comment!" Then he lost the urge to grin as he said quite seriously, "Jennifer, do not be quite so quick to pick up the cudgels on my behalf. As I said yesterday, I value you as a dependable colleague and an even more dependable friend. You have done wonders turning your life around so completely in such a short time. Don't jeopardise all you've achieved in some sort of misguided attempt to save me from the consequences of my actions. OK?"

Greatly daring and hoping that she wasn't crossing a line, Jen grinned and replied, "Well, someone has to, sir!"

Harm laughed, causing heads at other tables to swivel curiously in his direction, "Well maybe so, Jennifer, but it's taken me too long to train you to my weird little ways, and I really can't be bothered with the prospect of training a new Legalman!"

The twinkle in his eyes betrayed that Harm wasn't being serious, and that realisation emboldened Jen to sigh, "Of course… I should have realised that all this concern for me was really just pure self-interest!"

Harm threw up a hand in the manner of a fencer acknowledging a hit, "Touché!" he exclaimed with a grin, and then after a glance at his watch added, "If you're ready, Jennifer?"

"Yes, sir," she replied gathering cups and plates onto their tray and then tucking her cover under her arm depositing the tray on the nearest rack.

xxvii-xxvii-xvii-xvii-xvii

Although Harm tried to keep an ear open for any further disturbances in the outer office, he was forced to focus on finding and drafting the answers to the SecNav's questions, which meant frequent recourse to the UN Convention on Piracy and the various law books concentrating on Maritime and International Laws. So absorbed did he become, that it wasn't until Jen called him on the intercom that he became aware of the passage of time.

"Yes, Coates?"

"_Just to let you know that I'm just about to secure, unless you need me for anything else today, sir?_"

"Damn! Is it that late already?"

" '_Fraid so, sir!"_

"OK, Coates. Go ahead and secure. I shan't be many minutes behind you!"

Harm was close behind Jen that he actually caught up with her at CP as she was signing out for the day, and as she stepped aside to allow Harm access to the counter, she smiled and said, "You sure are in a hurry, sir! Can't wait to get home to Elizabeth?"

Harm turned to the door, Jen falling into step beside him, "You're right, Coates. These last two weeks have made a lot of changes in my life, but I wouldn't have it any other way! But this evening, it's my turn to visit Kresge before I go home.

Jen's face creased in quick alarm, "There's nothing wrong, is there sir?"

"Oh? Oh, no. No, nothing like that. It's Catherine's mom, one of us visits her every day, and today it's my turn while Catherine stays at home with Beth. Once Beth is a little older then we can both visit with Esther together again!"

"Oh, OK, sir… my car's across the lot, sir. See you tomorrow!" Jen held a brace for a second or two before saluting and turning away.

"Tomorrow, Coates," Harm agreed, returning her salute.

Once again, Harm was running late, 'So what's new about that?' he asked himself, and once again found himself caught up in the mass of drivers using the back streets as rat runs, consequently what should have been a twenty minute drive stretched out to double that length of time. As a result, Harm's temper was on the rise again as he rolled to a stop in the hospital's parking lot.

Torn between his wish to get to Esther's room as quickly as possible, and the need not to agitate her by letting her see how frazzled he was, Harm leant back against the headrest and grudgingly allowed himself five minutes to unwind, and it was only when he felt his eyelids begin to flutter closed that he made the effort of climbing out of the Lexus.

With a bright smile on his face Harm rapped on the frame of Esther's door, "Hey, Grandma, got a coupla minutes to spare for a handsome sailor?" he asked with a slightly toned version of his full-power smile.

"Of course I do!" Esther responded immediately, throwing to one side the magazine through which she had been disinterestedly browsing, "Come on in and bring me up to date!"

"Not a lot to tell, Esther," Harm admitted as he bent to kiss the old lady's cheek. Catherine's fine, a little tired, as I am, but Lady Elizabeth continues blithely to order the household to comply with her wishes!"

"I'm sure she does!" Esther exclaimed, patting the bed in a silent invitation for Harm to sit down, "just like her mother and uncle did when they were babies!"

"I'm sure you're right, Esther, but just don't go telling Catherine that anything Elizabeth does has been done before by previous generations if babies!"

Esther cocked her head on side, once more irresistibly reminding Harm of a sparrow, as she fixed him with her piercing eyes, "Having second thoughts about a cuckoo in the nest, Harmon?"

"No! Never!" Harm indignantly denied the accusation.

"No, I didn't think for a second that you were," Esther agreed, patting him on the hand, "but if you'll forgive an old lady, I had to ask."

"You may be an old lady, Esther," Harm smiled, "But that's only to look at! I don't think I've ever seen a sharper knife in any drawer!"

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Harmon Rabb!" Esther scolded him fondly.

"Oh, I don't know…" Harm smiled lazily, "it got me exactly what I wanted… Catherine and Elizabeth!"

"And Mattie?" the old lady asked shrewdly.

"No…" Harm sobered, "Not Mattie, not yet… but hopefully…" He pulled himself together with a jerk, "We've got a date for the court hearing, December twenty fourth, so if the fates are kind, then Catherine's fortune-telling could be right after all. You will have two granddaughters by Christmas!"

Esther laid her head back on the banked pillows behind her and smiled at the conceit, "Do you know, with all that's been happening, I'd almost forgotten about that!"

Harm's answering smile was full of honest amusement, "Esther, believe me, if you were sharing a house with Mattie Grace Johnson, you would have absolutely no trouble whatsoever of remembering it!"

Esther sighed, "I miss that girl! When is she coming in to see me again?"

"Well, Catherine will be coming to see you tomorrow, while I keep an eye on Beth, and I'll bet you a dime to a dollar that Mattie will be with her."

Esther nodded, "You're probably right, but it's not quite the same as seeing you all together," she said mournfully.

"Beth's a little too young to be dragged out to see you just yet, Esther. Just be a little patient and in a couple of weeks we'll be back en-masse to make you miserable!"

"M'mm… I'm waiting for the day…" Esther's voice trailed off, and her eyes slowly closed, but the smile remained on her lips.

Harm looked at her sharply, and was relieved to see the slow, steady rise and fall of her chest. He grinned and shook his head wonderingly; Esther Gale was proving to be tough as the whitleather to which he'd once compared her. The doctors had given up on her before he'd gone to Paraguay, but she was still hanging in there, and a goodly part of the reason for that was that she had been determined not go until she had seen her first grandchild. But now that Elizabeth was here, she needed to find something else to supply her will to survive.

He continued to sit silently by her bedside, holding one of her thin hands in his own, for a good twenty minutes until he decided that she wasn't going to wake up any time soon, so bending over and lightly dropping a kiss on her forehead he quietly left the room.

xxvii-xxvii-xxvii-xxvii-xxvii

Catherine and Harm sat back on the couch in their usual position, her head nestled in to the hollow oh his shoulder and his arm looped around her shoulder and his hand gently stroking her upper arm, watching Mattie as she sat in one of the armchairs, a jumper-clad Beth cradled in her arms, her hair pulled back in a pony-tail, allowing Harm and Catherine an unobstructed view of her face.

Neither of them had spoken of it, but both were surprised at how readily Mattie seemed to have bonded with the latest addition to her family, and despite her frequent grumbles about interrupted nights, she was more than happy to help Catherine with diaper changes and bath-time, or even just to sit quietly, as she was now, totally absorbed with the infant in her arms. She had even gotten over her squeamishness at seeing Catherine nurse her daughter, and no longer made an excuse to flee the room.

Catherine nudged Harm gently, "I guess we won't have to look very far for a baby-sitter when we finally get a social life again!"

Harm nodded, "I guess not… but that's one thing that concerns me…"

"Go on," Catherine urged him.

"Well, it's the court thinking exactly the same thing, but not looking on it in the same humorous light. If they think that we're taking on Mattie just as an extra pair of hands now that we've got a new baby, it won't look well in their eyes."

"Ummm… we'll just have to think upon a response strategy that will supply a satisfactory answer to the court if they should ask about that." Catherine decided.

"Yeah…" Harm felt slightly uneasy, "I know that generally going into any court that having a strategy is a good idea, but I'm wondering about this type of case. Miss Le Moyne made the point that we should be honest and open, and Watley pretty much said the same sort of thing."

"I just mean that perhaps we ought try and cover a worst case scenario and have our answers prepared in the event of any of the really bad questions come up."

Harm nodded the frown lines on his forehead smoothing out, "Yeah… and talking of awkward questions…" he paused waiting for a response.

"Ah! Catherine said triumphantly, there is something bothering you! I knew it!"

"Yeah, well… uh… have you managed a sub-let on your old apartment yet?" Harm asked rather diffidently.

"No… why?"

"Well, how much longer do you have to run on your lease?"

"Just over three years. Again, why?"

"Umm… I don't know how much you're asking, but…" Harms pulled his billfold out of his pocket and handed Catherine a slip of paper, "would you be prepared to accept that amount from a friend?"

Catherine's eyebrows rose, the sum on the paper was considerably less than the monthly rental that her Georgetown apartment could command on the open market. In fact the high rent was one of, if not the main, reasons why a sub-let had been difficult to arrange. "What friend?" she asked.

"Jennifer Coates. She and another Petty Officer have been looking for somewhere; I thought about offering them the old loft, but…"

"But?" Catherine prompted him.

"Yeah… but… it's too bad a neighbourhood. Letting them have my old place wouldn't be doing them any favours, and I wouldn't feel right…"

Catherine sat up straight, gently disengaging Harm's arm before she spoke, her eyes fixed on his, "Harm, what exactly is this girl to you? I mean, you were all twisted up yesterday because you'd yelled at her, and now this… apartment hunting for her…"

"Jealous, Catherine?" Harm asked in surprise.

"Do I have cause to be?"

"No, of course not! But as to what Jennifer is to me… as I said yesterday she's a colleague and a friend, of whom I think highly and to whom I – and all of us who were at JAG – owe a huge debt, and if I can help her out in any way, then I will!"

"OK," Catherine said placidly, as she snuggled back in the circle of Harm's arm.

"OK? That's it?" Harm asked in surprise.

"Sure, I asked if I needed to be jealous; you said no. So there's an end to it."

"You trust me that much?" Harm persisted.

"Of course I do; I love you," Catherine said simply.

"And I love you, too," Harm replied.

"I know!" Catherine said smugly.

"So… have you two finished fighting?" Mattie's suspicious voice betrayed that she hadn't after all been totally absorbed by Beth.

"We weren't fighting!" Harm and Catherine protested in chorus.

"Oh, good," Mattie's relief was plain to hear, "so I guess that means you won't be making up by putting on any disgusting PDAs?"

"PDAs?" Harm asked in a resigned voice as he waited to hear Mattie's punch-line, but to his further surprise it was Catherine that supplied the missing information.

"Public displays of affection," she smiled, "like this!" and she reached up to capture Harm's lips with her own.

Mattie shook her head in mock despair, "I don't suppose you two are ever going to stop grossing me out like that?" she asked, biting her tongue to stop her grin from exploding.

Harm pretended to give the question serious consideration, before he answered, "Nope… I don't think so. Catherine?"

"No, definitely not!"

Mattie sighed and looked down at the gurgling baby in her arms, "Beth, I'm not real sure how to tell you this, 'cos you're way too young to be disillusioned, but the sad reality is, your mommy and daddy are totally shameless!" she intoned in solemn accents.

Catherine laughed out loud and then still smiling said, "Mats, have you any idea of the length of the tab you're running up? And that you are most definitely going to pay when you introduce your boyfriends to us!"

"Oh, that won't be for years! After all, Harm said he wasn't going to allow me to date until I was thirty! And by then you'll have forgotten all about this!"

Mattie contented herself with a grin as both Harm and Catherine burst into laughter, startling Beth into wakefulness, a condition of which it seemed by the volume of her protest that she heartily disapproved.

Catherine stood and started across the room to comfort her daughter, but was beaten to the punch by Mattie, who rose to her feet, Beth still in her arms and said, "It's OK, I've got this!"

To Harm and Catherine's surprise the teenager took a only a few steps around the room, whispering soothingly into Beth's ear, before the infant stopped crying but then started rooting at Mattie's breast. Her face flaming, Mattie turned back to Catherine, "Uh… I think… maybe you _had_ better take her now. I'll go fix us all a drink…" she held Beth out for Catherine to take and fled to the kitchen.

Harm exchanged a look with Catherine, and more slowly followed the teenager. In the kitchen, Mattie stood at the worktop ostensibly looking out of the window while she waited for the kettle to boil.

"Are you OK, Squirt?" Harm asked gently.

"Uh… yeah, I'm fine…" Mattie replied, thankful that the colour was receding in her cheeks, "I guess I'm fine being a big sister; I'm just not ready to be a mom yet!"

Harm crossed the room and stood behind her, folding his arms around her in a hug. "No," he said softly, "Not yet, Mats. Like you just told us, you've plenty of time left before you even start thinking of that." He dropped a soft kiss on the crown of her head. "Are you really OK with all this? I mean, with Beth and Gina running Grace Aviation and living in your Mom's house, and you coming to live with us, and now there's our little Beth… we don't want you to start thinking that all we're doing it for is so we can have a full-time baby-sitter…"

Mattie turned to face Harm, and leaning back against his hands at the small of her back, she looked up into his face and said seriously, "Harm, I heard what you and Catherine were saying about me, and baby-sitting and the court and all, but it's like this: when my mom was alive, there were chores that she had me do. And I know from the other kids in school, that they did chores too, and some of them even had to look after their younger brothers and sisters. That was being part of a family. If I'm going to be part of your family, then I want it to be all the way. Otherwise I'm just a house-guest, or worse, that long-lost cousin that's come to stay until everyone wishes he'd get lost again! And if the judge asks me how I feel about doing chores and stuff, well that's what I'll tell him! As for Beth and Gina… if you and Catherine hadn't stepped up to the plate for me, then I'd have lost the house and the business; as it is, I've just lent them to somebody until I'm old enough to look after them myself!"

Harm's face relaxed as he listened to Mattie, "I think I remember telling you once before that you were pretty damn… uh… darn smart. But I can't remember if I told you that you were pretty darn cool too!"

"Yeah, well, you're pretty… uh… darn cool your own self!" Mattie grinned mischievously, "but this tea isn't going to brew itself! Wanna give me a hand?"

"Sure thing, Squirt!"

Later Harm was lying in bed having just watched admiringly as Catherine went through a rigorous muscle stretch before heading to the shower, he asked her, "Did you think about the apartment and Jennifer?"

Catherine sat on the edge of the bed, casting a wary eye into Beth's crib as she did so. "Yeah, I've thought about it, and really what she, what they are offering is way below market value… but," she added hastily as she saw Harm about to interrupt, "we'd still be that much better-off each month. Especially if you're going to make a habit of crashing cars…" she grinned at Harm's wounded expression. "So… normally, I'd expect references before signing a sub-let, but I guess with you as a referee?" she paused and continued when Harm nodded his agreement, "that won't be necessary. But… I'd still like to speak with her before I make my final decision. Can that be done?"

"It can," Harm agreed, "but we need to move quickly on this. Would tomorrow evening be OK with you?"

"Wow! That is quick! What do you have in mind?"

"I'll get Jennifer to follow me home tomorrow, and you can talk with her, and I'll get a chance to have Beth all to myself for a while!"

"That's if Mattie will let you!" Catherine chuckled as she stood. "But, yeah, that would work for me!"

Catherine was in the bathroom no more than fifteen minutes, taking a shower and completing her pre-bed rituals before she returned to the bedroom to find Harm already asleep, a smile seeming to hover on his lips. She smiled gently and whispered, "Goodnight, darling," as she slid under the comforter and then shot a glance at the crib, "As for you… I'll see you later!"

Five seconds later there was a soft click as Catherine switched off the light and the bedroom was filled with the sound of soft breathing.

xxvii-xxvii-xxvii-xxvii-xxvii

Jen nervously licked her lips as she slid out from behind the wheel of her ancient Ford Escort and walked towards Harm as he fumbled his keys from his pocket, "Are you sure about this, sir?"

"Jennifer, I'm not sure about anything in this world anymore. And really this has nothing to do with me. This is Catherine's business."

Jen's eyebrows rose at what she considered to be his disingenuous disclaimer, and gave a mental snort of derision, but contented herself with a slightly sardonic, "Like you had absolutely nothing to do with it, sir?"

Harm grinned at his Legalman's sceptical expression, "No… well… not much… I just happened to know of a pair of young ladies looking for an apartment to rent, and also of another young lady who has an apartment she wants to sub-let. So, no, really, I did nothing, except bring each party to the other's notice!" He unlocked the door, and opening it stepped back to allow Jen to enter ahead of him.

"I'll take those," Harm said, indicating Jen's cover and raincoat and hanging them on the rack just inside the door, "Now come and meet the tribe!"

Jen nervously followed Harm into the lounge, where she was met by the sight of Mattie just laying Beth down in her porta-crib. Jen immediately turned to Harm, "Oh… may I, sir?"

Like any new daddy Harm was only too happy to show off his baby, and with a smile, stood back to allow Jen to close in on Beth, who for once was happily awake and stared back up at Jen with her still unfocussed blue eyes.

Jen's breath caught in her throat, "Oh… she's so beautiful," she breathed, immediately winning over Mattie who at first sight had been inclined to be suspicious of this older, more poised and in her teenaged eyes much more sophisticated woman.

"Hi," she said shyly, "I'm Mattie Grace… I… uh live here with Harm and Catherine…"

Jen smiled, "Hi, Jennifer Coates; I work for the Commander."

Mattie grinned, casting a sly sidelong glance at Harm, "Yeah, I think we spoke on the phone once. Is he as much of a hard-ass at work as he is at home?"

Jen nearly choked, "You don't really expect me to answer that while he's standing right here, do you?"

Harm just stood thunderstruck, "In what way have I been a… a… well, what you said? And we _are_ going to have another talk about your language, young lady!"

Jen charged to Mattie's rescue, "Uh… no… we haven't spoken… I think it was the girl I took over from, Lynne Barker, you spoke to!" And then Jen's curiosity got the better of her, "How's he being hard on you?"

Mattie grunted scornfully, "He wants me to go back to school. I keep telling him that as long as he teaches me to fly I've learned everything I need to know!"

Jen's smile was gently sympathetic, "I know what you mean, I hated school too!"

"Probably not for the same reasons I do, I'll bet!" Mattie challenged her as the two young women sat down, each in an armchair.

"No? Try me!" Jen said, amused by the teen's certainty.

"Well, look at you! You're the cheerleader type!"

Jen's quiet, brief chuckle was genuine, but Harm thought he detected the edge of bitterness in it, a thought that was confirmed as Jen answered, "I wasn't always! My dad was a minister and he made me dress like a real geek!"

Mattie could barely stifle a giggle as she tried, and failed, to imagine Jen dressed like a geek, but before either if the young women could make any further comment, Catherine who had been loading a basket of dirty baby clothes into the washer, hurried in from the utility room., and came straight to Harm, taking his hands in hers and raising her face for a brief kiss, "Hi, sweetheart!" she said.

Mattie leaned towards Jen, and whispered behind her hand, "Don't sweat it – they're like this all the time!"

Jen, who hadn't missed the very quick glance that Catherine had shot at her, stood to greet Catherine and smiled in seeming response to Mattie's comment, but her smile was occasioned by the knowledge that she had just seen Catherine mark her territory.

"Catherine," Harm said as they slipped their arms around each other's waists and turned to face their visitor, "This is Petty Officer Jennifer Coates, the young lady about who I've spoken with you. Jennifer, this is my partner, Catherine Gale."

Jennifer nodded, "I've heard your name, ma'am, and I was privileged enough to meet your daughter the night she was born." Jen took a quick look at Beth, "It's hard to believe that she's grown so much in just two weeks!"

Catherine couldn't help but be attracted by Jen's open expression and friendly smile, and of course, interest in and praise of her daughter was a sure-fire way to Catherine's heart. Her face blossomed into a smile of welcome and she advanced on Jen, a hand held out. "And I've heard a lot about you… Jennifer, isn't it?"

Jen went slightly pink, "Uh… Jen, ma'am. It's only the Commander that ever calls me Jennifer!"

Catherine released Jen's hand, "Yes, he does that doesn't he?" she asked rhetorically, "When I think about it, everybody else, except for my Mom of course, calls me 'Cat' or 'Cathy', it's only Harm – the Commander – that uses the full version of my name! It makes you feel kind of special, doesn't it?"

Jen blinked, "Yes, ma'am, I guess it does!"

Catherine nodded, "Come and sit down, I want to get to know you a little before we get down to business!"

Harm, recognising the signs of an impending long discussion, took himself off to the kitchen and phoned in an order for two pizzas, a roast vegetable pizza to be shared between Catherine and himself and a meat lover's feast for the two younger women.

By the time the pizzas had been delivered and eaten Catherine and Jen had arrived at a mutual respect and the beginnings of a liking, and in principle it was agreed that Jen and Lynne would rent the Georgetown apartment. The disclosure of its location had nearly caused Jen's eyes to pop out of her head.

"Georgetown?" she queried, "Oh… that neighbourhood is well above our pay-grade! I'm sorry; I've wasted your time! But it would have been nice…" she added wistfully.

"Well, no…" Catherine temporised, "You have to remember that there isn't a stick of furniture in the place, not even a fridge in the kitchen, although the stove is still there!"

"But there is plenty of closet space!" Harm interjected, and was rewarded by seeing some of the cloud leave Jen's face.

"Besides, I knew last night what you said you and your friend said you could offer for rent," Catherine finished on a note of triumph, "so there has been no waste of time, well, none of mine!"

Jen smiled her acknowledgement, "Look, we really need an apartment, but… I wouldn't feel right saying we'd take it, without both Lynne and I seeing it first! Can we arrange a time so we could see it?"

Catherine frowned, "The logistics are a bit complicated, I can't leave Beth alone for the time it would take to get into DC and back, let alone say, maybe half an hour in the apartment. And, no offence, Kiddo, but I don't want to leave Beth with just you, not yet, anyway."

Mattie pinkened, "No offence taken Catherine, I wouldn't want that much responsibility anyway, not while Beth's so young!" Mattie also remembered the unsettling feeling she'd got when Beth had started to root at her breast. Overcome with an emotion that she was too young to recognise, much less deal with, Mattie had been heartily relieved to be able to hand Beth off to her mother and seek refuge in the kitchen.

"But I do got an idea…"

The three adults all looked at her with interest. "I know where the apartment is, and I know the neighbourhood – probably better than you, Harm. I could show it to Jen and her friend…"

Harm and Catherine looked at each other, both with dubious expressions on their faces. "How would you work that, Squirt?" Harm asked.

"Well, it's too late now, I wouldn't be happy being out after dark. But I could get the bus to a metro station tomorrow afternoon and then the metro to the Pentagon, and then Jennifer could pick up her friend and then I'd take them to the apartment, and then once they've seen it, you could come and collect me?"

Jen saw the imminent refusal on Harm's face and quickly interrupted, "There'd be no need for that Mattie. I'd be glad to bring you home!"

The two younger women received an unexpected reinforcement from Catherine, who nodded and said decisively, "Yeah! That would work!"

Besieged by two pairs of blue eyes and one pair of brown, Harm threw up his hands in surrender, "OK, that's the way we'll play it, if you want. But I could just as easily take Jennifer myself after work tomorrow!"

"Yeah, you could," Catherine agreed, "but then, who'd get dinner ready?"

xxvii-xxvii-xxvii-xxvii-xxvii

Jennifer, Lynne and Mattie stood, surrounded by boxes and full to bursting black trash bags, in the middle of what had been and would again be the lounge in Catherine's old apartment. The muffled sounds of swearing filtered through from Mattie's old room where Lynne's boyfriend and one of his buddies were putting Lynne's bed together. For the time being, Jen was using a futon, but with the near-future acquisition of a real bed in the front of her mind.

"Well, what now?" Mattie inquired.

"We wait until the guys have finished in my bedroom, then we give them a beer, get rid of them and start the real work!" Lynne said emphatically.

"Beer?" Mattie said hopefully.

"Forget it kid!" Jen laughed, "The Commander would kill me!"

"Yeah, I s'pose," Mattie agreed half-heartedly, and then as a thought struck her, "Hey, Jen, do you always call Harm 'the Commander'?"

Jen looked at her in surprise, "Of course I do, unless I'm speaking with him, and then I call him, 'sir'."

"But you're friends, right? So why don't you call him by his name?"

"Because we're also Navy, Mattie; he's an officer, I'm not. And that's just the way it is!"

"Dumb Navy, dumb rules!" Mattie grumbled much to Jen and Lynne's amusement.

xxvii-xxvii-xxvii-xxvii-xxvii

The following Friday Harm arrived home from duty to find that Catherine had set only two places for dinner. "Am I in the dog-house?" he demanded.

"Huh?" Catherine replied eloquently, and then following the direction of his gaze, she chuckled, "No, nothing of the sort! Mattie's at the old apartment tonight, she's having that sleepover with Jen and Lynne, remember?"

"Oh… yeah… but remind me, how come I ever agreed to such a half-assed plan?"

"Well… because I pointed out that Mattie needed a larger social circle than just you and me. To which you agreed. And then you subjected Jen to a third degree and wrung a promise from her on pain of great pain, that there would be no boys, no beer, no wine, no smoking and that refreshments would be confined to a light supper, sodas and s'mores!"

"I did huh?" Harm sounded pleased with himself.

"Yeah, you did, so let's have no more complaining!"

"Of course… you realise what this means, don't you?" Harm asked.

"What?" asked Catherine suspiciously.

"It means apart from sharing you with Beth, I get you all to myself for the whole evening!"

"Oh… damn!" Catherine groaned, "Do you think we could farm Mattie out for the whole weekend, but next month, after I get the all clear?"

"Sounds like a plan!" Harm agreed with a grin that set Catherine's heart racing.

xxvii-xxvii-xxvii-xxvii-xxvii

The days passed and the holidays grew nearer, and with the holidays so came the date for the hearing. The uncertainty of the outcome of the court case cast a slight pall over the preparations for the celebration, and although a tree had been procured, and gifts bought and wrapped, neither Harm nor Catherine felt like decorating the tree, almost as if they believed such an optimistic preparation would only jinx their case.

In an unspoken conspiracy all three had kept their worries from Esther, but that astute old lady had sensed that something was awry, but after an interminable inner debate had decided that when the three of them were ready they'd tell her what was bothering them.

The Monday night before the hearing it seemed that their worst fears were being realised. Harm had come straight from work and was expecting Catherine, Mattie and Beth home from Kresge at almost any minute. Catherine having consulted with Doctor Winslow they had decided that Beth would take no harm from a couple of outing a week to visit her grandmother, and that the change of environment would even be developmentally beneficial for her.

Whether Beth received any benefit was still a moot point, but it was certain that Esther did, and Harm was firmly resolved that no matter what the outcome of the court case, the whole family would visit Esther on Christmas Eve as well as on the holiday itself.

He had barely shrugged himself out of his overcoat and hung his cover on the rack when he was interrupted by the summons of the telephone, crossing into the lounge, he picked up the handset, "Rabb,"

"_Sir, it's Bud Roberts, sir. It's bad news, sir. Not bad, bad news, sir_," Bud continued as Harms' heart skipped a couple of beats. "_But…_"

Harm interrupted him, almost barking at his friend, "Don't do that Bud! I thought you were going to tell me that something had happened to Catherine!"

"_Oh, no, sir! Nothing like that… well, as far as I know sir, but of course, I don't know everything, so…_"

"Bud! You're not helping here! What is the problem?"

"_Oh… uh… yeah. I've just been sent on a JAGMAN investigation sir, out to the Iron Ike, Harriett's furious, because it looks like I'm not going to make it back for the holiday… but it's worse than that, sir, I won't be able to make it to the court hearing as your character witness!_"

"Dammit, Bud!"

"_I'm sorry, sir, but really, it's not my fault_!"

"Of course not…" A sudden thought seized his mind, "Did Mac send you on this assignment?"

"_Yes, sir_,"

"Did you tell her about the hearing, Bud?"

"_Yes, sir. But she really has no-one else to send. We're still short-handed at JAG, Commander Manetti and Major McBurney are investigating a case at Twenty Nine Palms, Commander Austin is in court all week, and the new junior attorneys that have arrived have no investigative experience. The Colonel said she was sorry that I might have to miss the holidays, and she did notarise my written statement regarding your character, and I've sent it by messenger to your office. So you should get it on your desk, first thing in the morning_!"

Harm felt his shoulders droop, neither he nor Bud could do anything about the orders he had received, and although Mac had notarised Bud's sworn statement, all three of them knew that an affidavit was nowhere near as compelling as live testimony, and given the state of Mac and Harm's relationship, and Bud's explanation of the manning problems at JAG notwithstanding, he couldn't help but wonder if Mac was deliberately trying to sabotage his bid for Mattie's guardianship. After all, their last conversation had been on the chilly side, and Mac had been known in the past to act hastily without fully considering the consequences.

"OK, Bud. Thanks for letting me know. It can't be helped; orders are orders. You take care of yourself on the Ike, and no shore trips, d'you hear, there?"

Harm could hear the grin in Bud's reply, "_I read you loud and clear sir! And believe me, after the warning Harriett's given me about what she'll do to me if I hurt myself, if I even get a hangnail, I'm not coming home!_"

"Yeah… well, Godspeed, Bud, and let's hope you get home for the holiday!"

"_Amen to that sir_!"

Harm busied himself about the kitchen but as he prepared the evening meal, he was mentally reviewing the possible impact on his petition that the non-appearance of a listed witness might have, and came to the conclusion that even with Bud's sworn and notarised statement his absence would be a point against the case.

He remained distracted throughout dinner, a fact not missed by either Catherine or Mattie, if their frequent exchange of concerned glances were any indication, and it was eventually Mattie who couldn't stand the suspense any longer, and as soon as the three had taken their tea into the lounge, she put her cup down on the occasional table and said challengingly, "OK, Harm… what bug has bitten your six!"

Harm attempted a weak joke, "Not bug, Squirt, but Bud." Then seeing her look of incomprehension he turned towards Catherine who had a puzzled frown on her face, sighed and said, "Bud called earlier. He was going to be a character witness at the hearing, right?" He paused to allow the two women to nod their heads in agreement, "Well… he's been sent on an investigation on board one of the carriers… in the Indian Ocean, and he very probably won't be back for the holidays and almost certainly will miss the hearing."

Catherine instantly understood Harm's worries and grimaced, but reached out and gripped his hand comfortingly.

"Is that bad for us?" Mattie asked worriedly.

"Well… it doesn't help us," Harm confirmed, "It's not necessarily a death knell, but although he's sent me a sworn and notarised statement, it's not the same as him standing up in court and the judge being able to ask for clarification."

"So… we're doomed?" Mattie asked, her eyes filling with tears.

"No, not doomed, it just makes it a little harder…" Catherine said gently

Mattie gulped, and gave an audible sniff, "It's getting a bit late, and there's some reading I want to get through before I go to sleep. So… if you don't mind, I'll say goodnight now."

"Yeah, OK, Squirt, good night!"

"Sleep well, Mattie," Catherine added as the teen headed for the stairs.

Later, as she sat on the edge of the bed and gave Beth a feed before putting her down for the night, Catherine asked, "This sending Bud out of town… it couldn't have come at a worse time, and it really sucks. Do you think Colonel MacKenzie did it on purpose, you know, like a Uriah the Hittite type situation?"

Harm managed a grin, "Well, apart from the fact that I don't think Mac lusts after Harriet, I'm fairly certain that Mac wouldn't stoop that low, even to punish me. Remember, Bud's likely to miss the holiday, and Mac is still little A J's Godmother and I wouldn't like to think that she would willingly hurt the little guy…"

"It's still a lousy card to draw!" Catherine stated forcefully as she brought Beth up to her shoulder to burp her.

"Yeah, but we've drawn it, and we can only play the cards we're dealt."

xxvii-xxvii-xxvii-xxvii-xxvii

The hand that dealt the cards hadn't yet finished with Harm's little family. He had just returned to his office after another interminable meeting with the SecNav, this time over the manning plot. To Harm's surprise a handful of officers in Tranche One, those who had spent longest at sea or in hardship billets had replied to the invitations stating, quite forcefully in some cases, their decided preference to stay where they were.

Shaking his head in stupefaction and his mind still going over the points he had made to the SecNav, Harm was caught flat-footed when Jen stood as he entered the outer office and said, "Sir, while you were with the SecNav Lieutenant Sims called. Can you call her back on her home number? She said it was 'quite urgent'.

Harm blinked, "Thanks, Jen." But his heart sank, surely to God nothing had happened to Bud, but no, on reflection, if something had happened to Bud, Harriet would have insisted on speaking with him immediately, and he had a shrewd suspicion that under those circumstances Jen would have had no compunction in interrupting his meeting with Secretary Sheffield.

Still, the best way to get answers was to ask the questions. Once behind his desk, he reached for the 'phone and dialling the outside line prefix, he punched in the numbers for Bud and Harriet's home line, and was rewarding by the sound of the 'phone being picked up at the second ring.

"_Roberts' residence_."

"Good morning, Harriett. Harm here; you needed to speak with me?"

"Sir! Yes, thank God you called back so quickly…" there was a note of barely suppressed panic in the blonde officer's voice

"Whoa, whoa! Slow down, what's the matter, Harriet?"

"_Sir, I feel terrible. Bud's going on the investigation must have knocked a hole in your case, and now I've had to collect little A J from pre-school; he's running a temperature, and I don't think I'll be able to get to court tomorrow, either!_"

Harm closed his eyes briefly, this was not the sort of news he wanted. Now both his character witnesses were unavailable, but if A J was sick, then obviously Harriet needed to consider him her highest priority.

"Don't worry about it Harriet. We'll be just fine; we've got too much running in our favour to let us worry. You go right ahead, and look after A J. He's got to be your number one concern!"

"_Oh, thank you, sir_!"

"Don't thank me, just get off the line and get on with looking after your son!"

Harem found it difficult to concentrate fully on his work for the rest of the day, and finally at about fifteen thirty hours he reluctantly acknowledged that he had achieved very little and reached a command decision, "Coates," he called into the intercom, "Unless you've got something urgent on your desk for me, I'm going to secure. I need to go home and go over my notes for tomorrow!"

"_No, nothing new here sir_!"

Harm quickly restored order to his desk and after a confirmatory glance through the window, he shrugged into his raincoat and with cover and briefcase in hand, quit his office, offering Jen a quick "Goodnight, Coates," as he passed her desk.

Jen returned his farewell, "Good night, sir," and then added, "And sir, good luck tomorrow!"

Harm paused briefly, Mattie and Coates had struck up an unlikely friendship, and Harm although surprised was more than happy that Mattie should take Jen, notwithstanding her prior record, as an example, so he mustered a half-smile, and said, "Thanks, Jen." before he nodded to her again and left the office.

xxvii-xxvii-xxvii-xxvii-xxvii

"Do I_ have_ to wear a dress?" Mattie demanded loudly, bringing a hissed 'Shh' from both Harm and Catherine, as they looked anxiously at the porta-crib on the couch.

"Sorry!" Mattie whispered red-faced with embarrassment at her slip, "But really, a _dress_?"

"It shows respect for the court," Harm said wearily, "like I've told you before."

"_Lying_ to the court shows respect, just how does that work?" Mattie challenged him.

"Lying?"

"Yeah, pretending to be somebody I'm not. That's as good as lying, isn't Catherine?" Mattie turned to her for support.

"Not in this case, Mattie. To some extent all court cases are a bit like theatre. The judge for instance, wears a robe in court, and I'll bet you a dime to a dollar that he or she doesn't wear one at home! And people in our position, petitioners and defendants, all wear something that includes them as part of the cast."

"Yeah, when I had to appear as an attorney before an Australian court, I had to wear a robe and a wig!"

Distracted for the moment, Mattie giggled, "That I would liked to have seen!"

"Yeah? Well it ain't going to happen! I told Bud to destroy all the pictures and negatives if he ever wanted to live to draw his pension!"

"Bud has pictures?" Mattie asked and she and Catherine exchanged a look, a wicked smile growing on each of their faces.

"I told you, no! He destroyed them all. And anyway, stop trying to change the subject!"

"Oh well… it was worth a try!" Mattie shrugged her shoulders, filing away for future reference the snippet about Bud and his photographs. She was willing to bet a considerable some that the younger officer still had some… somewhere. "What are you wearing tomorrow, Catherine?"

"My mid-grey suit and white blouse."

"Is that a pants' suit?"

"No, it's a knee-length skirt. Harm… what if Mattie wore a skirt and jacket… it's not quite as girly as a dress, and might even work to her advantage; the judge might see it as a sign of maturity."

"H'mm… that's a thought… has she got anything like that in her closet?"

"Aw, can't I wear a jacket and dress pants… I got a grey pair that would go with that navy blue jacket…"

Before Harm could answer, or even frame a reply the conversation was disturbed by the 'phone. With recent 'phone calls in mind, and remembering that bad things always happen in threes, Harm had a sinking feeling in his stomach, even before he picked up the handset.

"Rabb."

"_Harm, it's Beth O'Neill. Um… there's been a bit of a hiccup_."

"What's wrong?" Harm had a flash of thought, a hangar fire, an airplane crash, a personal emergency for Beth or Gina?

"_We've just had an unwelcome visitor… Mattie's dad just turned up on the doorstep and was hammering at the door…_"

Harm drew in a deep breath, "Just a minute, Beth; I'm putting you on speaker 'phone. It's Beth at Charlottesville", he said hurriedly to Catherine and Mattie, "Mattie's dad has just shown up at the house!"

Mattie went white and instinctively sought Catherine's hand, her eyes growing huge and remaining fixed on Harm as he said, "Go ahead Beth, we can all hear you now."

"_Well, it's like I said, Mattie's dad turned up demanding to be let in and spend the night. We said no of course, and he started blustering about how it was his house, and we had no right to be there. We tried to explain to him who we were what we were doing here and that we had a perfectly legal right to be here, but he wouldn't listen…_"

"Was he drunk?" Mattie asked disgustedly.

"_Well, he had been drinking,"_ Beth hedged.

"What happened, Beth?" Harm asked.

"_He demanded to see Mattie, so we had to explain that she wasn't here and that she was staying with you, and about the court case. Then… well, he started swearing, said he was going to fight you in court, and then ordered Gina and I to get out of his house. It looked like he was going to get violent… so I'm afraid I had to get my weapon, and I ordered him off the property…_"

"Good for you!" Mattie said fiercely.

"Are you and Gina, OK?" Harm asked.

"_Yeah, we're fine. It seems he had a spare key to that old pick-up, because he went and sat in it for a while and then just drove off._"

"Have you called the Sherriff? Remember there's an outstanding warrant for his arrest on theft and fraud charges."

"_Yes, we called the police immediately, and they said they'll keep an eye open for him. Apparently he's well known to them._" Beth finished ironically.

"OK, well, keep safe, and thanks for the heads up!"

"_De nada! We will! It won't be the first time I've sat CQ, but this time I've got my Glock and a shotgun to keep me company_!"


	28. Chapter 28

**28**

Harm was in his shirtsleeves, an apron protecting his shirt and service dress pants, just finishing clearing the breakfast dishes when Catherine led Mattie downstairs for Harm's inspection. A long discussion had led to Harm provisionally agreeing that Mattie could wear a jacket and pants combination subject to his approval.

The teenager presented a picture that had Harm half approving and half amused. Catherine had evidently attacked Mattie's usually unruly tangle of copper curls and had somehow bludgeoned them into submission and trapped them in a long braid that now hung down between her shoulder blades, and the vigorous efforts that this treatment had required was evidenced by Mattie's red-rimmed and still tearful eyes.

Harm ran a critical eye over Mattie's ensemble, not, he chided himself, that really needed to worry, she was after all wearing some of the spoils of a last minute trip to the stores under Catherine's tutelage. She was neatly and stylishly turned out in a classic pants suit in charcoal grey with what to his eyes looked suspiciously like a white silk shirt, its open collar turned up and over the jacket collar and lapels, and on her feet a pair of plain, black, low-heeled pumps.

Harm dried his hands, let the pride and affection he felt show in his smile, "Mattie, you clean up really good," he said fervently, "but… you don't look quite right," he manoeuvred past the two and into the den, where he opened his desk drawer and talking over his shoulder continued, "there's something missing!"

He turned just in time to catch the look of surprise on Catherine's face and an expression of annoyance on Mattie's. His smile, if anything became wider and he walked up to Mattie and said, "You kept your birthday a secret from us, but I couldn't let it go without some sort of gesture, and so I've been waiting for the right moment to give you this, with love from Catherine and I."

He held out a slim, flat box and handed it to Mattie, who stood in stunned silence as her eyes went alternatively from the box to Harm's face. "Go on, open it," he encouraged her.

With slightly trembling hands Mattie did as Harm had suggested and as she saw the contents of the box nestling against the maroon velvet box lining, her mouth dropped open in a silent "Oh" as she gave a gasp of surprise. "Ha… Harm… I… I… can't… you… sh… shouldn't…" she finally stuttered.

"Nonsense, you can and I should!" Harm contradicted her firmly, looking to Catherine for support.

"Of course you can Mattie!" Catherine agreed, taking the box from Mattie's nerveless fingers, "Now stand still!"

For once Mattie did as she was bid without argument, and Catherine, stepping behind her, clasped the slim gold chain around Mattie's neck, and then guided her out into the hall so that the teenager could see the gold cross that now hung at her throat.

"Oh… Harm…Thank you, thank you so much…" she managed as he hand crept up to touch the pendant, "I don't… I don't know what to say… but… but…" Mattie felt her tears coming and, as usual, turned to make an escape to the privacy of her room, only to find her path blocked by six feet four inches and two hundred and twenty pounds of apron-clad naval aviator turned attorney, who was now offering her a crisply ironed and spotless white handkerchief.

"It's OK, Squirt; it's OK to let people see you've got emotions. They won't think you weak or feeble, and it will stop them from thinking you're some kind of robot, and I kinda gotta admit, I was beginning to wonder the same thing my own self!"

Harm's nonsense got through to Mattie where perhaps a more reasoned argument would have failed, and with a watery giggle she took the offered handkerchief, mopped her eyes and fiercely blew her nose before offering it back to Harm.

Harm eyed the now no longer pristine article with disfavour, "No, that's alright Mats, you keep hold of it. I'll get myself another one!"

His expression as well as his words elicited another damp giggle, as Catherine suggested, "Why don't the two of you go and sit down, I need to see to Beth before I get ready."

Harm knowing full well that Catherine's outfit lay ready for her on their bed nodded his head in acquiescence and grinned, "C'mon Squirt, let's do as she says before she turns all DI on us! But… do you want another coffee before we sit?"

Mattie was about to say 'yes' when it was obvious from her expression that she was having second thoughts, "Uh… better not, we don't know how long the court is going to last, and I don't figure they're really in to letting folk go for bathroom breaks!"

Harm nodded approvingly, "Good thinking Mattie. Now let's just go through the rules again, shall we?"

"Yeah, I know," Mattie sighed, rolling her eyes theatrically, "I don't chew gum or spit on the court-room floor and I call the judge 'your honour'"

"Good, what else?"

"I answer all questions correctly and I don't volunteer more information than is asked for."

"And?" Harm prodded.

"And I speak from the heart and tell them why I want you to be my guardian."

Harm nodded approvingly, "Good, keep it simple!"

Mattie made a vague gesture with one hand, "So what do I tell the judge? That you fly a Stearman and that you used to make me eat Mrs Pearson's bean casserole so I wouldn't eat pizza seven days a week?"

Harm chuckled, "Yeah, well that ought to convince them!"

"I still don't see why I have to wear this… suit."

"Well apart from the fact that you look really, really good in it, it shows respect for the court!"

"What pretending to be somebody I'm not?"

"And it shows respect for yourself!"

"Now you sound just like my mother!" Mattie exclaimed.

Harm was surprised, Mattie never mentioned her mother, and to be compared to her by Mattie caused him to feel a warm glow pleasure. "I would have liked your mother!" he answered.

"Yeah, well you're a lot like her." Mattie assured him, and then as she saw the startled but amused look on his face, blushed and added hastily, "On the inside I mean!"

Fortunately for the sake of Mattie's composure, Catherine chose to make her entry at that moment, and both Harm and Mattie stood in recognition of her arrival and in approval of her appearance. She wore, as she had intended from the start, her mid-grey suit with the knee-length skirt, and a square necked white linen top which showed in a contrasting triangle between the jacket's lapels, and which was highlighted by her own constantly worn but rarely seen gold locket suspended from its chain about her neck.

Mattie had never seen Catherine in anything other than maternity wear, or since Beth's birth, in casual slacks and men's shirts, and stood open mouthed, "Wow… you look… fantastic!" she finally said.

"No more than you do!" Catherine smiled back.

"Yeah, right!" Mattie grumbled with a ferocious scowl, but secretly pleased by the compliment.

Harm who had doffed his apron, now took his jacket from the hangar on the back of the lounge door, checked his watch, and said as he picked up Beth's porta-crib and slung her diaper bag over his shoulder, "Well, if we're all ready, let's head for Charlottesville. We definitely do not want to be late this morning!"

xxviii-xxviii-xxviii-xxviii-xxviii

Catherine kept Mattie and Harm waiting in the court-house while she took Beth to the women's bathroom for a quick change and a final feed before they took their places in front of the bench, and Harm only just managed a sigh of relief as Catherine re-joined them, with Beth in her porta-crib, before the bailiff called them forward.

They entered the sparsely populated courtroom proper and made their way to the front, Mattie acknowledging on the way an encouraging smile from a burly man in his forties, who she told Harm in a whisper was the Albemarle County Sherriff, the man who had allowed her to drive the Grace Aviation truck. That praise was no recommendation to Harm, and he fixed the law officer with a flat, almost unfriendly stare, receiving an unrepentant grin in return. The trio took their seats at the petitioners' table in the courtroom, Beth's porta-crib at Catherine's side and waited for the court to be called to order, and then Mattie, sitting nearest the aisle hissed into Harm's ear, "That's him!" indicating the middle aged-man taking a seat at the what Harm instinctively thought of as the prosecution table.

"Your father?" Harm asked, visually inspecting the badly shaved, shabbily dressed and watery eyed individual who glared back at him with absolute loathing.

"Yeah, that's him!" Mattie ground out between clenched teeth. But before Harm, Mattie or Tom Johnson could say anything else, the bailiff's voice rang out.

"All rise! The Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court of Albemarle County is in session, the Honourable Judge Madeleine Smith presiding!"

Judge Smith was an attractive brunette in her mid-to-late forties, with a no-nonsense manner about her. She stood in front of her chair taking in the scene in the court room, and raising an eyebrow at the sight of the peacefully sleeping Beth in her porta-crib, before saying, "Be seated!" suiting her own actions to her words.

She wasted no time, as she donned a pair of reading glasses and opened the file in front of her, saying, "Commander Rabb, you have, jointly with Miss Gale, petitioned the Family Relations court for the guardianship of Matilda Grace Johnson, a minor child."

"We have your honour." Harm replied; he and Catherine had decided that he should be their spokesperson unless the judge specifically asked Catherine a question.

Madeleine Smith removed her reading glasses and lay them on the bench in front of her, "I have read the report by Donna Le Moyne, the Guardian _Ad Litem_ and the housing inspection report by Morgan Watley. Both reports raise questions, but both indicate a refreshing honesty and a realistic appraisal of the challenge you face."

Harm leaned forward slightly in his seating his hands lightly clasped on the table top in front of him, "I would be glad to answer any questions the court has your honour."

"And you will have your chance," Judge Smith responded, "However; this matter has become complicated by the return of Thomas Johnson, Matilda Grace Johnson's biological father."

Harm shot a glance across the aisle at Tom Johnson, to see a smug expression cross the other man's face as he heard the judge's words.

"Now, Mister Johnson, I understand that at this time you wish to address the court?"

"I do, your honour," Tom Johnson's voice was rasping and husky, the product of a long period of alcohol abuse.

Judge Smith nodded, "You need to be able to convince me that you are willing and capable of taking care of this child, so before you speak your piece, I have a few questions for you. Firstly, where have you been for the last six months?"

"Well… well, I've been trying to get my life back together, your honour."

"And you left Matilda on her own?"

Johnson sat back in his chair, his hands clasped on his stomach, "No, I left her with relatives," he grinned indulgently across the aisle at his daughter, "She chose not to stay with them, Mattie can be… uh… strong-willed!"

"And what's to say that you will not abandon this child a second time?" the judge asked.

"Well, ma'am, I was the victim of a very unfortunate accident…"

His prevarication was too much for Mattie, rising to her feet before Harm could prevent her, she glared across the aisle at her father, "You killed my mother!" she accused him.

Judge Smith turned her attention to Mattie, "Miss Johnson," she admonished the aggrieved teenager.

Mattie looked at Judge Smith, "My name is Grace, Mattie Grace," she indicated Tom Johnson, "Johnson is _his_ name!" She lifted her head slightly and continued, "And he was drunk…!"

But before she could say anything else, she was stopped by Harm's softly spoken, but clearly audible, "Mattie… sit down." An unhappy Mattie sat and listened as Harm added, "Your father has a right to be heard, and you need to respect this court."

An embarrassed but still defiant Mattie gulped, and once more addressed the Judge, "I'm sorry… your honour."

"Apology accepted," the Judge replied and then with just a suggestion of a half-smile and an acknowledging inclination of her head added, "Miss Grace."

There was a couple of seconds silence while an abashed Mattie lowered her gaze and Judge Smith returned her attention to Tom Johnson, who stood to face her, "Your honour, I was not always the way I am now. Mattie might not remember, she might not want to remember, but I used to be a good man, and I used to be a good father," he said earnestly. "See, her mother used to work nights, and I used to make the dinner, I used to read to her," his voice cracked with emotion as he looked across the aisle at his daughter who returned his tear filled glance with one of scorn. "The fact is, I've made some mistakes, made some big ones. Things I can never repent for, no matter how much I wish I could, but I am trying to be a better man… for Mattie. And all I'm asking is that you give her the chance to get to know me the way I am now." Johnson gave a slight shrug and after a moment resumed his seat, and as he did so, Mattie once again stood.

"May I say something, your honour?" she asked.

The judge made an open hand gesture implying permission, and said, "This is your day, Mattie."

"There is no way this man can make it up to me. He got behind the wheel when he was drunk, I will never forgive him for that." Mattie half turned to her left for a moment and indicated Harm and Catherine, "Commander Rabb and Miss Gale have offered to make a place for me in their lives, and they have offered me more parenting in the few months that I have known them, than I have received from that man in a year or more. I promise to do as they tell me, and that I won't cause any trouble for them."

The judge shook her head slightly, "Trouble is a part of life. I am only interested in how Commander Rabb and Miss Gale are going to handle that trouble."

Her words brought Harm to his feet, "Your honour, I lost my father when I was young, not because he left, but because he went missing in action in Vietnam. I know what it's like to grow up without a father, and I don't take the responsibility of fatherhood lightly. I give my word to this court, your honour, that I will do my level best to ensure that Mattie gets everything she deserves. I've given her my word that she will never be alone in this world again!"

Tom Johnson surged to his feet, his anger evident in his voice, "There's only one problem with that! You're not her father!"

Judge Smith intervened before the situation could escalate, "Donna Le Moyne was most impressed with Commander Rabb and Miss Gale; she believes they would make very suitable guardians."

"But, doesn't a man have a right to be with his own child?" Johnson demanded.

"That is a primary consideration, Mister Johnson. However, this court must also consider what kind of father you will make, and also what kind of guardians Commander Rabb and Miss Gale will make."

Both Harm and Tom Johnson remained standing as Judge Smith continued, "I also see that Miss Le Moyne noted in her report that Miss Gale was pregnant at the time of her interview, and I see now that Miss Gale has an infant with her. I assume that the one is the consequence of the other?"

Catherine stood, "Yes, your honour." She glanced down at the porta-crib, "This is our daughter, Elizabeth. She's one month old today."

Judge Smith again made the merest suggestion of a smile, "Congratulations to you both, Miss Gale. But your daughter's very existence raises more questions. You are, I am given to understand, an attorney employed by the State Department?"

"Yes, your honour," Catherine replied.

"And you are at present on maternity leave, I take it?"

"Yes, that is so," Catherine agreed.

"How can this court be sure that you are not petitioning for the guardianship of Mattie Grace, solely for the purpose of acquiring an unpaid nurse-maid while you resume your career?"

"That would be difficult to disprove, your honour, but it would also be difficult for Mattie to fulfill that function, as the hours I usually work overlap with the hours that Mattie will be in school."

The judge nodded, "Yes, I see that Miss Le Moyne noted that you had provisionally enrolled Mattie in a local high school. Very well."

Mattie, with a glance at Harm and Catherine as the latter resumed her seat, once again stood, "May I speak to that, your honour?"

"Please do," Judge Smith replied.

"When my mother was still alive, she had me do chores around the house, and like I said to Commander Rabb and Miss Gale, talking to friends at my last school, that was usual, they all did chores too, and sometimes those chores included looking after their younger brothers and sisters. Your honour, I was present when Miss Gale had Elizabeth, and I already think of her as my little sister, so I'll be happy to look after her for short periods once she is older."

"I see, thank you, Mattie," Judge Smith said gravely. "Now," she continued, "I see from the court schedule, Commander, that you had two character witnesses prepared to speak on your behalf?

Harm stood again, "Unfortunately your honour, Lieutenant Commander Roberts has been ordered away from Washington on duty, and my other witnesses, Lieutenant Sims, is unable to attend court today due to her son's illness, and both have asked me to tender their apologies to the court. Lieutenant Commander Roberts has, however, prepared a sworn affidavit, which has been notarised, and which, with the court's permission, I would like to submit."

"Very well, Commander; Bailiff please…"

Barely had the bailiff handed Bud's statement to the judge, when the doors at the rear of the court room opened, and a second bailiff entered, "Your honour, there is an unlisted character witness who would like to be heard. A Lieutenant Colonel MacKenzie."

Tom Johnson, Mattie and Harm all turned their heads, a look of frustration on Mattie's father's face while she and Harm both wore expressions of surprised alarm. The judge too looked surprised, and not altogether pleased, but nevertheless, bowed her head in a sign of approval. The bailiff opened the door and stood back to let Mac enter.

Mac was in full Marine Corps Service Dress Alphas, her garrison cap tucked under her left arm. She stood, head high, her expressionless gaze locked with Harm's for a moment at the far end of the aisle before she advanced to stand between the two tables and halted facing the judge, while Harm sat, concerned with what she might say, particularly as, despite his words to Catherine, he still partly suspected that Bud's assignment to the USS Eisenhower was no coincidence.

Mac took up a position that resembled 'Parade Rest', her hands lightly clasped at the full extent of her arms behind her back. She took a breath in readiness and then said, "Firstly, your honour, as Lieutenant Commander Roberts' Commanding Officer, I must inform the court that it was through obedience to my orders that he is unable to present his evidence in person today, and for that I offer the court my apologies, but plead in mitigation that the needs of the service on this occasion override Commander Roberts' obligation to Commander Rabb, but I hope that I can somehow fulfill that obligation on Commander Roberts' behalf. Your honour, I have been a colleague of Commander Rabb for eight years. I have the highest level of respect for his honour and integrity."

"What is your opinion of his and Miss Gale's suitability as guardians for Mattie Grace?" Madeleine Smith asked.

"I don't know Miss Gale particularly well, your honour, but that Commander Rabb has chosen her as his partner speaks well of her. As to Commander Rabb, I consider him to be highly suitable, your honour."

"And on what do you base that opinion, Colonel?"

Mac continued, ignoring the hostile glare emanating from Tom Johnson as well as the open-mouthed surprised stares from Harm, Mattie and Catherine, "Your honour, I have seen the Commander put his own life at risk to protect the son of a fellow aviator who was killed in the line of duty. The Commander has always taken a personal interest in cases involving children, your honour. He has taken a child witness into his home," Mac allowed a small smile of remembrance cross her face as she added, "and pulled strings to get medical attention for a traumatised little girl after he made it his personal quest," Mac turned her head to look at Harm for the first time since she started speaking, "after he made it his personal quest to solve that little girl's sister's murder; He was also instrumental in introducing that little girl to the family that subsequently adopted her. He has made it his business to stay in touch with that family, and with the little girl."

Judge Smith responded with a hint more warmth in her voice, "That does speak well of the Commander. What else can you give me?"

"I have given a lot of thought to the kind of man that I would want to be the father of my children, if I ever…," Mac paused, swallowing hard to clear her throat, "Commander Rabb is that kind of man, and your honour, I can't prove it to you, but I can only state without reservation that he is up to the job."

"Thank you, Colonel," the judge said. Mac nodded in acknowledgement of her dismissal and took a seat behind Harm and Mattie.

Judge Smith looked from Harm and Catherine to Tom Johnson, "You both make compelling cases for custody. Mister Johnson, while you do share biology and a history with Mattie it will be very difficult for you to take care of Mattie until you have recovered…"

Once again there was an interruption from the courtroom floor, as Sheriff Mitchell rose to his feet. "Your honour, if I may speak, before you pronounce judgement?"

"This is unusual Sheriff, but… if you have something pertinent to those proceedings, let's hear it!"

"Yes, your honour, I do. I have in my pocket a fugitive warrant for the arrest of Tom Johnson on charges of fraud, malfeasance and theft, and I intend to take him into custody the minute this court is adjourned."

Judge Smith's grave but somewhat easy going air dissolved instantly. "Bailiff, take Mister Johnson into custody. Sheriff, my chambers now! This court is in recess for the next twenty minutes!"

A stuttering and bewildered Tom Johnson had his arm taken in the bailiff's grasp, and was led away to the holding cells, while all present stood as Judge Smith swept out of the courtroom. Sheriff Mitchell gave Mattie a wry grin as he lumbered after her, while Catherine murmured, "Oh my, I'd almost completely forgotten that I'd made out that complaint!" while Mattie turned to Harm.

"What's going on Harm?" she demanded.

"It's to do with that bank loan your father took out and secured against the business. He never used any of it for the business, but put it into his pocket. That's theft. By making it a business instead of a personal loan, that's fraud. And to do that he took advantage of his position in holding your power of attorney, and that's malfeasance, or acting in bad faith. And talking about acting in good or bad faith, Mattie. Will you excuse me for a moment, please?"

"But…"

"Mattie could you come and give me a hand with Beth, please?" Catherine interrupted whatever the teenager was about to say.

Harm gave her a grateful glance over Mattie's head and waited until the two of them headed for the women's bathroom, before he turned to face Mac. "I… I… don't really know what to say, Mac…" he raised his open hands palms forward and waist high, in a gesture that showed his perplexity, "Of all the people to come forward today… to say what you did… I just don't know how I, how we, can thank you."

Mac let a half-smile settle briefly on her lips, "You've just said 'thank you' Harm, although there are no thanks needed. We may be mad at each other right now, and we may, as you said, need time and distance to recover from the wounds we gave each other, but I still consider us to be friends, and I felt that the least I could do, as I had to send Bud TAD, was to step up to the plate and pinch-hit for him!"

"You did much, much more than that, Mac. And all of us, Mattie, Catherine and me, we will never be able to repay what we now owe you!"

"I may not have achieved anything Harm, so let's have no more talk of thanks and obligation or owing anybody anything!" Mac picked up her cover from the bench and made as if to leave, only to be stopped by Harm's voice.

"Please don't go, Mac. Stay until the hearing ends, please? I know that Catherine will want to add her thanks, and I'm pretty sure that between us, she and I can coax Mattie into saying something nice!"

Mac chuckled, her eyes suspiciously moist, "Damn you, Harmon Rabb! You always make simple things complicated! And unless I was really mad at you I never could resist that damn' whipped puppy expression of yours! So, OK, I'll stay to the bitter end!"

"Well at least let me thank you for that!"

"Granted," Mac smiled as she sat down again.

Harm looked at her thoughtfully, "Mac, with Bud away and little A J sick, I guess that Harriet's put off the normal Roberts' Christmas open house, so win or lose today, why don't you come to us for Christmas dinner tomorrow? Make it a first step on our way to reconciliation?"

"That's very generous of you Harm, but it may be a mite too early, and maybe a mite too big a first step, but even if it wasn't, I couldn't accept. I'm committed to spending tomorrow with Clay at his mother's house…"

Harm winced, his expression bringing a further chuckle from Mac, "Yeah, that's about the way that I feel! Porter Webb isn't all that fond of me; I suspect she thinks I'm not good enough for Clay!"

Harm shook his head slightly, but having detected a familiar bitterness in Mac's voice he refrained from answering, and had never felt more relieved when he saw Catherine, Beth and Mattie returning from the women's room. Their arrival served to put an end to a conversation that Harm was uneasily aware had the potential of leading them into uncertain territory, and Catherine picked up on that awareness and was quick to acquiesce when Mac indicated the porta-crib and asked, "May I?"

"Of course," Catherine answered, "But I've just fed her, so I'm hoping she'll go back to sleep and be as good as she has been so far!"

"OK, I won't disturb her," Mac promised as she bent over the porta-crib and took in Beth's blue eyes and the fair, downy hair that poked out from under her knitted cap, "Oh, she is beautiful! Absolutely beautiful!" Mac said in a choked voice, and then cleared her throat before she continued, "You must be very, very proud of her!"

"Yes, we are," Catherine agreed, looking appraisingly at Mac. She and the brunette officer had never gotten on well with each other, there had always been both a professional and personal rivalry between them, to which on Catherine's part there was added a fair amount of animosity based on Mac's past treatment of Harm, but today's events had caused her to start to re-evaluate her opinions. But for the moment, she was content to accept Mac's praise of her daughter, and let bygones be bygones and wait quietly for the court to be called back to order.

They didn't have very long to wait before the bailiff re-appeared with Mattie's father, and standing next to Johnson, repeated his performance calling the court to order as Judge Smith re-entered the court room, while Sheriff Mitchell came back into the room through the rear doors, dropping an extravagant wink towards Mattie as he did.

Madeleine Smith took her seat, allowing all present to do the same. She glared unhappily at Tom Johnson, and said, "Please stand, Mister Johnson!" and then waited for him to do so before she continued, "I have read the charges and specifications on the warrant for your arrest, and I am appalled at the gravity and the nature of the offences you are alleged to have committed. If those charges are proved against you, I am certain that you will face a lengthy period of incarceration, and will therefore not be in a position to provide for Mattie. I am also given to understand that you no longer have any ties to the community, and nowhere to live, so that you are not in fact currently able to provide a home for Mattie. Taking into consideration these circumstances, and given your previous disappearance, Sheriff Mitchell has informed me of his intention to oppose any suggestion of bail at your arraignment, another circumstance that will prevent you taking care of your daughter. That being the case, I am strongly tempted to strip you of your parental rights, right here and now. However, I am prepared to wait until the resolution of the criminal charges you face before I do so. In the meantime, taking into account Colonel MacKenzie's ringing endorsement of Commander Rabb, I grant temporary custody of Matilda Grace, a minor child, to Commander Harmon Rabb and Miss Catherine Gale! Such custody to last until Thomas Johnson's trial is concluded, when the case will be reviewed. Commander, you and Miss Gale are granted leave to petition for Thomas Johnson to be stripped of those rights in the event he is convicted of these criminal charges. Sheriff, you may take custody of Thomas Johnson! This court is adjourned!" The judge slammed her gavel on the block with such vigour that the sound reverberated around the courtroom, and for an instant Harm wondered if the head pf the gavelwould separate from the shaft.o

Tom Johnson was led away in handcuffs, screaming "I'm innocent; this is all a Goddamned lie! Damn you Rabb, I'll get you for this! I'm being framed!"

A white faced and trembling Mattie turned to Harm and Catherine, "What does this all mean… I… don't understand… does this mean that I can stay with you?"

"Yes, Mattie you stay with us until at least your dad's case come up in the criminal court, and I shouldn't think there's any doubt that he'll be found guilty, and when that happens you'll be with us for ever!"

Mattie gave a gulp and a sob, and hurled herself against Harm's chest, throwing her arms about him and burying her face in his shoulder while she cried. Catherine smiled at Harm above Mattie's head, "Hug her back," she mouthed, "she won't break!"

Neither of them noticed Mac's wistful smile, as the Marine Officer silently picked up her cover and quietly left them alone.

xxviii-xxviii-xxviii-xxviii-xxviii

Mattie took her place on the Lexus' middle seat and helped Catherine to secure the porta-crib to the baby-seat's base, and then her hands went to her braid.

"What are you doing, Squirt?" Harm asked her.

"Letting my hair down! After all that's what people do when they celebrate, isn't it?" Mattie challenged.

"Well, yeah it is, but we need you to keep it braided for a while longer, we have one more important call to make, and then we can get home and you can let your hair loose, and scramble back into your jeans and sweater!"

"Oh… that sounds like heaven!" Mattie sighed, and then added suspiciously, "But where do we have to go to first?"

"To see your Grandma of course!" Catherine grinned.

"Huh? Oh… you mean your Mom, at Kresge?" Mattie asked dubiously.

"Spot on!" Harm told her, grinning at her in the rear-view mirror.

"Hell, yeah!" Mattie enthused, "I can't wait to tell her! Let's go!"

Laughing at her enthusiasm as well as in shared happiness, the three sat with faces wreathed in smiles for a few minutes until Mattie said, "C'mon, let's get going! We're wasting good daylight!"

Harm engaged the drive and the Lexus rolled out of the parking lot as he steered it in the familiar direction of the US-29, Harm's long-time preferred route from Charlottesville to the DC area. Twenty minutes or so into the journey, Harm's cell 'phone rang. Digging into his pocket, he pulled it out and handed it to Catherine.

"Hello?"

"_Hi, Catherine? It's Beth O'Neill. How did it go this morning_?"

"It went well, we've got custody of Mattie at least until her father's court case is over! He was arrested by the Sheriff at the hearing!"

"_That's good news! He scared the crap out of Gina last night, and he shook me up a little. So when I called the Sheriff, I mentioned that he'd said he'd be at the hearing, and reminded the Sheriff that there was an outstanding warrant for him_!"

"That certainly helped, Beth! I had a feeling that we weren't going to win, despite everything, until the Sheriff dropped that bombshell!"

"_I'm only sorry I couldn't be there Catherine, but I'm in Chicago! Tell Harm and Mattie I got a charter for the Cessna. I'm flying back to Charlottesville in about an hour, but I'll be flying back to Chicago for the return trip on the twenty seventh!_"

Catherine grinned, "That's good news too Beth! Uh… do you have big plans for tomorrow?"

"_Just Gina and I, a duck, a couple of bottles of wine and a chick flick or two_!" Beth chuckled.

Catherine laughed, "OK, have fun! We'll keep you in the loop!" and smilingly hung up.

"Beth O'Neill?" Harm hazarded.

"Yeah," Catherine twisted in her seat, "She said to tell you both that she'd flown the Cessna on a charter to Chicago this morning and was due back there on the twenty seventh to bring the passengers back!"

"Hear that Mats?" Harm grinned triumphantly, briefly raising his eyes to the mirror. "Another piece of good news! Beth's not only got the Cessna back in the air, but she's starting to make it pay its way!"

"Yeah, the damn thing was always a money pit!" Mattie grumbled, "But it was mom's…"

"I understand, Kiddo," Catherine said gently, "but…" and paused significantly.

Mattie looked puzzled for a few seconds and then took on a chagrined expression, "Oh… yeah, I know… language! Sorry!" The look on her face didn't exactly convey contrition, but the high spirits enjoyed by all three wouldn't let Harm or Catherine dwell on her transgression, and to the accompaniment of a further burst of laughter the Lexus continued to forge its way north.

xxviii-xxviii-xxviii-xxviii-xxviii

Esther Gale's face split into a huge grin of delight and she hastily thumbed the television remote, killing the programme she had been halfheartedly watching, as Harm ushered Mattie and a Beth-burdened Catherine into her room.

"Mattie!" she exclaimed happily, "Why you look stunning! And Catherine, it's good to see you back in a suit, dear; you're looking good. And Commander, you look very… Commanderish!" she finished on a chuckle, and then had to pause for breath, as Mattie swarmed her, taking the old lady into a gentle hug while she kissed her cheek. Esther returned Mattie's embrace with real pleasure, and patted the side of the bed, saying firmly, "Sit child!" as she put her face up for Catherine's and then Harm's kisses.

Tilting her head to one side she listened with sparkling amusement to Mattie's "How are you today, Esther?"

"I'm fine, absolutely fine!" Esther responded, her eyes brim full of amusement at the young woman's concern, "But today isn't about me, is it? How did it go down in Charlottesville? Not that I really need to ask; you all look far too cheerful for the case to have gone against you!"

"That's true, Mom," Catherine agreed smilingly, "But would you believe there's one member of the family that has treated the entire day with complete indifference?"

"I most certainly would!" Esther replied, "And quite right too! At her age all she need be concerned about is a full tummy and a clean, dry diaper! And what are you thinking about girl? You get your daughter out of that contraption and let her Grandma spoil her for a while!"

Harm took advantage of the fuss caused by the extraction of Beth from her porta-crib, and sneaked out of his pocket the disposable camera he had bought for just such an occasion and fired off three quick shots of the four female members of his family as they sat together on the bed, Esther flanked by Mattie and Catherine while she held her granddaughter in her arms.

"Harm! No!" Mattie protested, half laughingly, while Esther and Catherine laughed at her confusion as she complained at being photographed when she was "pretending to be somebody I'm not!" and uttered blood-curdling threats if Harm ever repeated his offence!

Harm excused himself temporarily from the room, on the grounds that he was making a tactical withdrawal before "That girl makes good any of those threats!" content to let the women assume he was taking a bathroom break, while he slipped off in search of Doctor Cameron.

It only took him a few minutes to find her as she left another of the rooms in the CCU, and she responded to his greeting with a pleasant "Good afternoon, Commander."

Harm smiled, "Look, I've only got a couple of minutes; everyone thinks I'm in the bathroom, so I'll cut right to the chase. What are the prospects?"

Alison Cameron nodded, letting a sympathetic and conspiratorial smile sweep across her face, "It's looking good, and provided nothing untoward intervenes, it's green across the board! If anything changes in the interim, I've got your number and I'll let you know!"

Harm grinned, "Thanks Doc, you're an angel!"

"Oh I'm not entirely disinterested, Commander. I am getting a free lunch out of all this!"

"That you are, Doc. That you are!" and with a further grin Harm flipped a casual salute in Alison's direction, leaving her with a smile on her face, as he headed back to Esther's room.

He was just in time to hear Esther exclaim, "Oh! He didn't, did he?"

"Well, mom, there's not a lot of doubt that he's guilty, and I won't say it's a slam dunk, but I really can't see a jury finding him not guilty! So Mattie stays with us until the other matter's settled."

"Well!" Esther was puffed up with indignation, but she patted Mattie's hand comfortingly, before adjusting her hold on Beth and said, "I was inclined to feel sorry for your father at first, but now, with what you and Catherine have told me, I'm glad he's been arrested! To steal from his own child! Despicable!"

Harm cast a startled glance at the monitors recording Esther's vital signs and said, "Hey, easy Grandma, all these rampant emotions aren't too good for Beth you know!"

Esther cast him a look full of mock loathing, "Listen carefully, Harmon Rabb, I shall say this only once! Beth gets to call me 'grandma', I get to call me 'grandma', Catherine gets to call me 'mom', but you and Mattie here, you two get to call me 'Esther'! Is that understood?"

"Yes, ma'… uh, Esther!"

Esther chuckled, "And don't pretend that was a slip of the tongue!"

"Drat! Busted!" Harm grinned.

"Damn straight!" Esther confirmed, her eyes still twinkling with amusement.

Mattie fought down a grin, "Do you think these two will ever grow up, Catherine?"

"Oh, I doubt that, Kiddo, I really doubt that!"

"Just remember Catherine Gale, that growing old is compulsory – growing up is optional!" Esther chuckled. She eyed them shrewdly, picking up on a subtle hint in Harm's body language, "But, I've an idea that you still have a lot to do today and daylight's burning fast. So… if you promise you'll come and see me tomorrow, I'll let you go now."

"Of course we will!" Mattie protested.

"That's all I need to hear, so go on, shoo!" Esther scolded them.

There was a flurry of activity while Beth was refastened in her porta-crib and the three took turns to say their farewells to Esther and bestow more kisses on her weathered cheeks.

Esther sat back against her pillows, a couple of stray tears finding their way down her face. Nurse Brigid found her like that a few minutes later when she brought her meds in, "Are you alright, Esther?" she asked.

"I haven't felt so good for a long time, Brigid," Esther asserted with a beaming smile, after she'd swallowed her pills. "Their case went well, and they've got custody of Mattie, so just like Catherine said, I get two granddaughters for Christmas! Now… all I have to do is to persuade that daughter of mine to make an honest man out of the Commander!" she finished thoughtfully.

"I'm sure you'll manage that!" Nurse Brigid replied, she had, after all, had some experience of how benignly manipulative and determined Esther could be, "You did manage to get my Policeman to propose!"

Esther smiled angelically, "Yes… yes, I did, didn't I? Tell me, dear, does Doctor Cameron have a beau hidden away somewhere?"

Nurse Brigid laughed, "Oh, no! We are so not getting into that!" and whisked out of the room before Esther could come back at her.

"Oh yes, we are dear!" Esther muttered to herself as she picked up the TV remote and started flicking through the channels, "Ah… 'Miracle on Thirty Fourth Street'… oh, good, it's the Attenborough version!" and settled back on her pillows to watch the movie, a contented smile on her face.

xxviii-xxviii-xxviii-xxviii-xxviii

Arriving back at Woodford Road, as dusk was settling, Harm had barely brought the Lexus to a halt before Mattie was out of her seat, through the front door and heading for her bedroom.

"I don't think I've ever seen her move so fast!" Catherine laughed.

"Well, not unless there was food involved," Harm agreed as he uncoupled the porta-crib from the car-seat base, "and talking of which, we've got a lot to do this evening, would you go ahead and order a pizza, make it a large _frutti del mare_ and then we can all enjoy it."

"Pizza? Twice in a month?" Catherine teased, "And that's not counting what Jennifer's been feeding her on her visits!"

"Jennifer's good with that," Harm defended his Legalman and friend, "I asked her not to let Mattie gorge on pizzas or burgers, and she's assured me that she hasn't and won't. Besides, I've a shrewd suspicion that Jennifer is too conscious of her figure to indulge in junk food. Did you know, she runs five miles a day before work?"

"Is that a dig at me, Harmon Rabb?" Catherine asked.

"Not at all, not yet, anyway," Harm replied with aplomb, "Give it another couple of weeks once you've had the all clear, though, and it might be!"

"Harmon Rabb, I hate you!" Catherine exclaimed in shock, and then gritted out, "Oooh!" and she stamped her foot in frustration as Harm grinned.

"Gotcha!" he said with immense satisfaction.

Catherine stepped forward and pulled his face down to hers, "One day," she kissed him gently on the lips, "One day!" she repeated, this time threateningly, and nipped his bottom lip gently and moaned as his tongue swept the seam of her lips.

"Yeah, one day… in about two weeks…" Harm replied huskily.

"Oh… that's not what I meant," Catherine sighed, "but oh, yes, oh, so very yes!"

They were interrupted by Mattie's voice from the kitchen, "Shall I make a pot of tea?" and realised that the teenager must have seen their embrace, but decided on this occasion to use more tact than she usually did.

Mattie, now more comfortable in jeans and a sweater and with her hair loosened, had indeed seen them in each other's arms, but some instinct told her that this was a special moment for Harm and Catherine, and she had foregone her usual theatrical, and not very serious intervention, but still felt she need to let them know that she was around and about the house.

Harm's, "Yes, please!" in answer to her question was sufficient to break the tension that Mattie had felt.

Harm grinned as he took in Mattie's changed appearance, "Didn't take you long to revert to type, did it, Squirt?"

"Uh… no… You don't mind do you?" Mattie asked nervously, "I am still wearing the cross though. I don't think I'll ever take it off!"

"Mats, you're at home, you wear whatever you feel comfortable in sweetheart," Catherine told her, and all three took their places at the kitchen table, Catherine taking sips of her tea while ordering the pizza.

"Pizza?" Mattie asked in pleased surprise, "Pizza, today?"

"Sure," Harm replied, "We've got a lot to do, and not a lot of time to do it. Besides, like Judge Smith said, today's your day, and we've got a lot to celebrate, right?"

"Darn straight!" Mattie agreed, "But what have we got left to do?"

"Well, there's a tree to decorate, and I've got to get a head start on Christmas Dinner!"

"Do we got decorations?" Mattie asked.

"Yep, there are two archive boxes on the shelf in the hall closet. I'll lift them down for you and you and Catherine can get the tree squared away while I'm working my fingers to the bone!"

The evening passed with quiet laughter and mugs of hot chocolate topped with whipped cream and/or marshmallows depending on individual taste, interrupted by the delivery and consumption of the pizza and Miss Elizabeth's demands to be changed and fed. The only blemish on the peaceful surface of the evening came when Harm vetoed Catherine's decision to put Beth down for the night.

"No?" Catherine demanded.

"No… not tonight, Catherine. We've got a visit to make, and I need Beth to be with us, so let's make sure we're all wrapped up nice and warm, and can we be ready to leave in half an hour, please?"

"Harm…" Catherine started to protest, but he cut her off.

"Please, Catherine this is very important to me. Trust me on this, please?"

"Of course I do!" Catherine answered swiftly, "And if it's that important to you, then of course we'll come, right Mattie?"

"Right!" the somewhat bemused teenager answered. She wasn't sure what Harm was up to, but she trusted him to hell and back.

It was only twenty five minutes later that Harm, now back in full service dress blues and with his three girls warmly wrapped against the weather, backed the Lexus out of the drive and headed up Woodford Road, turning East onto the Leesburg Pike at Tyson's Corner.

xxviii-xxviii-xxviii-xxviii-xxviii

It was only twenty-five minutes later that Harm pulled the Lexus over to the side of Constitution Avenue, and switched off the engine, "We're here," he announced sombrely.

"Here?" Mattie exclaimed, craning her head in an effort to see something, anything.

"Hush, Mattie," Catherine whispered, as she began to realise what their destination was, "Just come along with us, OK?"

Catherine's whisper instantly got through to Mattie, and she nodded, "OK", slipping out of her seat and waiting for Harm to remove the porta crib from the car, and then crib in hand he silently led the way along the paths to the long black granite wall, going straight to the well- remembered spot on the wall where his father's name was engraved in letters of gold together with the others of his generation who had never come home from a war in a hot, humid, South-East Asian Country. Stopping, he turned to Catherine and Mattie, and handed over the porta-crib. "Could you give me a minute, please?"

Then he turned back to the wall, his hand rising to the peak of his cover in a salute, which he held for long seconds, before he stepped forward and as was his custom traced the letters of his father's name with a leather-gloved finger.

"Hi dad," he whispered, "It's Christmas Eve again, but I guess you know that. It's been a hell of a year for me, with some pretty dark depths, but I've come through it, and I hope I've come through as a better man. I know I'm feeling better about myself now than I have been for a long time, and that's entirely due to my new family. I have Catherine and Mattie and Elizabeth, neither Mattie nor Elizabeth are mine by blood, I guess you know that too, but they are still mine! And I'd like you to meet them…"

He turned back to the waiting Catherine and Mattie, and beckoned them forward. Taking Catherine's free hand in his he raised it to the wall, passing it lightly over his father's name, "This is Catherine, Dad, she's Elizabeth's mom, and the woman I love. And this," He placed his other hand on Mattie's shoulder as she raised her hand of her own accord to the engraved name, "is our ward Mattie Grace, whom we both love very much. He turned towards Catherine and took the porta-crib in his arms, "And this is our other daughter, Elizabeth, she's only a month old, and she's still very small, but she will grow!" Harm straightened up again and passed Elizabeth back to Catherine. "I'll leave them to say their own piece to you. Merry Christmas, Dad." He saluted his father once again and then took a pace back.

Catherine blinked back the tears, as she again touched the name, "Thank you, Mister Rabb, for bringing Harm into the world, so that he could be in my life. I love him so much, and I will do the best I can to look after him and care for him as you would wish. Thank you."

Mattie sniffled, "Yes, thank you, Mister Rabb. I don't know what my life would have been like without your son in it; I only know that it would have been much worse. He's a good man, and you should be proud of him, sir!"

The two women turned to each other and grinned self-consciously before they simultaneously nodded and turned back towards Harm. It was in a thoughtful silence that they walked back to the Lexus, until Catherine remarked with surprise, "Oh… it's started to snow!"

Harm and Mattie stopped and looked up at the huge, soft, white flakes slowly drifting to earth, "Well I guess that makes it official," Mattie grinned, "It really is Christmas!"

"Yeah I guess so!" Harm agreed, and taking Catherine's hand he picked up the pace and laughing in sheer exuberance the three of them made it back to the car.


	29. Chapter 29

**29**

Elizabeth's cries caused Catherine's eyes to flash open and she was half-way out of bed before she was fully awake, her hand reaching for the light switch. Squinting against the sudden brightness, she ignored Harm's still half asleep grumble as he rolled over in bed, turning his back to the source of the bothersome light. Now reluctantly awake, she picked up her daughter from the crib, and with a silent groan realised that not only was Beth hungry, but she was also wet and dirty.

Sighing she turned towards the bathroom, a still indignantly crying Beth in her arms, but glancing back over her shoulder she scowled at the alarm clock on her bedside table, the display on which told her in uncaring LED figures that it was five forty seven am.

Fifteen minutes later, having gone robot-like through the motions of cleaning and changing her daughter, Catherine stumbled back into the bedroom, her fingers going to the buttons on her nightshirt to allow a now growing agitated Beth access to her breakfast. She stopped momentarily when she saw that the bed was empty, but gave a mental shrug; Harm had been woken and probably needed the bathroom, and would doubtless be back in a few seconds. In the meantime, she propped herself against the pillows, pulled the comforter up over her legs and guided her nipple into Elizabeth's greedy mouth. The sensation of her daughter's nursing relaxed Catherine, and before she knew it, her eyes had closed and she was drifting off to back sleep, with Beth still feeding.

She was gently shaken awake, by Harm, who had returned to bed, and was sitting with an absurdly sappy smile on his face as he looked at mother and daughter. Catherine realised that she can't have been asleep very long, as Beth was still nursing. She smiled blearily at Harm, and whispered "Oops!", and then they let silence reign for the couple of more minutes until Beth relinquished her mother's breast and with a sigh fell limp in Catherine's arms. Harm reached over and picked up his daughter, draping a clean dishcloth over his shoulder as he gently rubbed Beth's back as she gave vent to a number of tiny, almost genteel burps. He then placed her gently back in her crib and turning back to Catherine handed her a steaming mug of hot chocolate that he had slipped down to the kitchen to prepare for her, and placed on his nightstand, where it had been concealed from her view by his body.

Catherine murmured her thanks and gratefully sipped at her chocolate, just managing to finish the treat and hand the mug to Harm before she turned on to her side and eased back into sleep. Harm placed the mug back on his nightstand and reaching over Catherine switched off her lamp and tucked himself into her, one hand beneath his head, the other draped over her waist as they lay, spoon-like under the comforter.

For a few moments Harm thought he heard Beth crying again. But as he regained mastery over his sleep-drugged brain he realised that what he heard was a soft knocking on the bedroom door and Mattie's equally soft, "Harm, Catherine?"

Now aware that the black of night was beginning to fade to the grey of dawn Harm turned on his nightstand lamp to see that it was nearly oh eight thirty hours. Checking that he and Catherine were both decently covered, he called out just loud enough to be heard, "OK Mats, what is it?"

The door edged open and Mattie backed into the room, the reason for her peculiar method of progress becoming plain as she turned to show that her hands were burdened with a tray that seemed to be fully laden. Harm hastily squeezed over toward Catherine leaving space on the side of the bed for a grinning Mattie to deposit the tray.

Harm blinked unbelievingly as he took in what was on the tray, and then he leaned over and gently kissed Catherine's cheek, "Wake up, sweetheart, we have a visitor!"

Catherine struggled awake and rubbed her eyes, blinking owlishly as she sat up and first took in the sight of a hugely grinning and bathrobe-clad Mattie sitting on the side of the bed and then spotted the breakfast tray.

"Merry Christmas, you two!" Mattie said triumphantly, relishing the looks of surprise on Harm and Catherine's faces. "Breakfast is served!" she continued oblivious of the looks of consternation the two adults exchanged, "Scrambled eggs on toast with a side of mushrooms for you both and a side of Canadian bacon for Catherine, coffee, and OJ! Enjoy! I'll see you later when you're all done!" and with a sunny smile, she rose to her feet and swept out of the bedroom.

Catherine looked at Harm and collapsed in helpless laughter against her pillows.

"I know, I know," Harm chuckled, "She meant it as a treat, but how the hell are we both going to eat breakfast in bed, with only one tray between us!"

"God knows!" Catherine acknowledged, "But we'll have to try, and try not to spill anything!"

"Well, that should be easily fixed, we can put the drinks on the nightstands, but for God's sake Catherine, do try not to drop any crumbs in the bed!"

xxix-xxix-xxix-xxix-xxix

By the time Catherine and Harm had, with much laughter, finished breakfast, Beth was once more demanding attention. This time round, while Catherine showered and dressed, Harm cleaned, bathed, dried and powdered her, before handing her off to Catherine for feeding, and once the rituals were completed they made their way downstairs Catherine with her arms occupied by a peaceful Beth, and Harm with his arms occupied with the tray bearing the wreckage from their breakfast in bed.

They found Mattie in the kitchen in jeans and t-shirt, her sweatshirt draped across a kitchen chair, as she stood at the sink peeling potatoes. She turned to face them as they trooped into the kitchen and exchanged hugs as they all wished each other a Merry Christmas, and blushingly tried to slide from under their thanks as they expressed their gratitude for the treat she had bestowed on them

Harm straightened up from where he had just put the prepared turkey into the oven and pressed the igniter, holding it in position until he was satisfied that the gas had caught, and looked into the pan where Mattie was putting the peeled potatoes and then at the couple of potatoes remaining in the sink. "You might want to peel say, another three or four potatoes, Mattie," he suggested in a non-committal sort of voice.

Catherine peered over his shoulder, "Why? It looks like she's done enough, in fact more than enough!"

"Maybe, maybe," Harm conceded reluctantly, "But I want to make sure. I want to make some farls tomorrow, and I'll need plenty of left-over cold mash for them!"

"Farls?" Catherine and Mattie chorused.

"Yeah, Irish recipe potato cakes," Harm smiled as Mattie wrinkled her nose at the idea, "It's not quite like it sounds, Squirt! I'll bet you'll love them!"

"What, like your meatless meat-loaf?" Mattie inquired sarcastically.

"Yep, just like that!" Harm grinned as both Catherine and Mattie groaned.

"Oh, never mind, Kiddo, just do what he wants for once, it is Christmas after all!" Catherine shrugged and surrendered to the inevitable as she set about brewing a fresh pot of coffee and, grimacing, placed a tea-bag in her own cup. "Give me a shout once the coffee's brewed, and then we can all take a break. After all," and her eyes lit up with anticipation, "there are presents under the tree that need to be opened!"

"That's true!" Mattie replied her eyes also lighting up.

So with the brewing accomplished, and Catherine's tea steaming gently alongside the two mugs of coffee on the occasional table, Harm and Catherine took their places on the couch while Mattie knelt, sitting back on her heels, by the stack of presents under the tree. At first they squabbled happily over who should open their presents first until an impatient teenager had had enough.

"Guys, guys! Christmas is for kids right?"

Harm and Catherine exchanged a wary look, "Yeah… so they say…" Harm agreed slowly.

"OK, so as the only kid in the house that's able to voice an opinion, I claim the right to decide who opens their presents first! And to make sure everything is fair, then I say we take turns, in alphabetical order, starting with the biggest presents first!"

Catherine leaned back against the squabs and smiled up at Harm, "Sounds like a plan!"

"Yep, go for it, Mats!"

Mattie grinned and handed to Harm a package about two feet square by six inches deep, to Harm, "This is for Beth, from…" she pretended to look at the label, "me!" and then grinned.

Harm gave her a half-worried glance and then stripped away the wrapping paper to reveal a brightly coloured box containing a plastic mobile to be suspended above Beth's crib. A second's glance was enough to make Harm laugh, prompting Catherine to ask, "What is it?"

Harm laughed again and showed Catherine the box top illustration, the mobile consisted of three different levels, and each level had three little yellow plastic bi-planes suspended on fine wires.

Catherine laughed too, "I suppose we should have expected something like this! Thank you Mattie!"

Mattie blushed and mumbled, "Well, they aren't exactly Stearmans, but…"

"It's perfect Mattie," Catherine assured her, "But if Beth grows up wanting to be a pilot, then we'll know just who to blame!"

"Oh… no way, José! You're not pinning that one on me! If she does, it's 'cos it's in her blood!" Mattie protested with a grin.

Once more Harm and Catherine exchanged meaningful looks, before Harm turned back to his ward and grinned, "Ah… but then we come back to the old argument, Squirt: Nature or nurture?"

Mattie frowned, "I'm not real sure what you mean by that…" she said.

"Ah well, it's something you can ask your science teacher when you go back to school!"

"You're hell bent on me going, aren't you?"

"Hell, yeah!" the two adults chorused.

"Ganging up on me!" Mattie complained with a grin, "I dunno if you two deserve any presents, now. But… since someone has gone to the trouble of buying a wrapping them for you…" She looked for the next package in line, and grunted with surprise when she felt its weight, "Unh! This one is for Catherine, from… Harm!" She used both hands to hold it out to Catherine, "Careful Catherine, it's kinda heavy!"

Catherine took the parcel and raised her eyebrows at the weight. She placed it on the table and carefully stripped the wrapping, and gasped as she saw that the box contained the latest model Wi-Fi ready lap-top computer with an eighteen inch screen and a crush proof carrying case.

"Harm… I… wow… Thank you, sweetheart. How did you know I needed a new… Oh! You've been talking to Mae, haven't you!"

Harm smiled, taking genuine joy in Catherine's reaction to her gift. "I kinda had to talk to Mae," he admitted, "It's difficult finding the right gift, when all the veiled questions I asked went ignored!"

"So that was what all those 'in an ideal world questions' were for?"

Harm just grinned, as Mattie shook her head and turned back to the stack of presents, "For me," she announced in a pleased voice, "From Harm!" She opened the packaging to reveal a crimson box decorated with two diagonal gold-edged blue stripes, which even she recognised as being the distinctive packaging of one of DC's premier women's clothing stores.

Lifting the lid from the box, Mattie peeled back the over-lapping layers of tissue paper to reveal a dark green dress, "Harm…?" she queried, "You bought this? Thank you!"

Harm grinned self-consciously, "Well, I had Catherine help me pick it out for you. She was quite adamant that I wasn't going to buy you something more suitable for a ten-year-old"

"Which is what he would have done – trust me!" Catherine twinkled.

Dresses weren't high on the list of Mattie's most wanted presents, but there was something about the way that this dress shimmered when it caught the light that prompted her to lift it out of the box, marvelling as she did so at the way the material seemed to glide over her fingers. "Oh, wow… I've never felt anything like this before…"

"It's shot silk, Mattie, made with two different shades of green so it changes shade depending on how the light catches it. And either of those two shades – they are very close – are going to look fantastic with your hair and skin tone!"

"Silk? And from Cole's?" an awestruck Mattie breathed, "Harm… it must have cost a fortune!"

"Hey," Harm was moved by Mattie's reaction, "What else for our first Christmas together?"

Mattie nodded and swallowed hard, twice. She _wasn't_ going to start crying on Christmas day, and reached for another package from under the tree, "Oh, this one's for your Mom, Catherine!"

"That's OK, sweetheart, we can give it to her later!" Harm suggested.

And so the ritual continued. Catherine and Harm's presents from Mattie were a pair of matching t-shirts with 'New Mommy' and 'New Daddy' emblazoned on them above a cartoon image of an exhausted looking Mom and Dad respectively. There was the customary shirt and tie for Harm from Tricia and a slim clutch-purse in black leather for Catherine from the same source, and packages and packages of baby clothes for Beth from everybody who had ever heard of her, or so it seemed to Mattie!

At last there was only one small package left to be opened, and that bore the inscription, "To Mattie from Catherine, with love to mark our first Christmas."

Mattie looked at the package suspiciously, and then glared at Catherine, "This isn't going to make me cry again, is it?"

"Oh, I hope not," Catherine smiled softly, "but if it does, then we won't mind at all, will we Harm?"

"Not at all… but we'll never know, if you don't open it!" he encouraged her.

Mattie suddenly felt nervous, and with slightly shaking hands, she tore off the paper to reveal a box similar to the one Harm had handed to her yesterday, and that had contained the cross and chain she now wore around her neck. Opening the box, she stared at the contents, and then gently lifted out the single strand of pearls that lay glistening against the velvet liner.

"Catherine…" she raised wide open eyes to look straight into Catherine's face, "It… it's… they're beautiful… but… it's too much!"

"Nonsense!" Catherine declared firmly, "Every girl needs a simple string of pearls, and those are going to look fantastic on you, especially when they're teamed up with your green dress!"

Mattie took refuge in mock anger, "Dammit, you two! Stop trying to turn me into a girl!"

Neither Harm nor Catherine took offence, easily seeing through the teenager's façade and both burst into laughter, "Mats, I hate to tell you this…" Harm said through his amusement, "but you _are_ a girl!"

"Damn! I am so busted!" Mattie was unable to keep up the pretence any longer, and rising to her feet, she perched on the arm of the couch and leaning over gave Catherine a warm hug, "Thank you, thank you, thank you both! For everything!"

Harm and Catherine both smiled at Mattie, both knowing that the teenager still found it difficult to unleash her emotions, and both knowing equally well that the thanks encompassed more than just the presents that had fallen to her lot this Christmas morning.

Harm let them sit for a few minutes before he disengaged his arm from around Catherine's waist, saying, "Well, I've got heaps to do in the kitchen," his eyes gleamed with mischief, "And somebody's got to clear away their plunder, and then get rid of all the mess on the floor!"

Catherine sent him a mock-glare, "I might have known you'd figure a way out of doing the hard work!"

"Well, I'll do the clearing up, if you want to cook the dinner!" Harm offered, knowing full well that Catherine would refuse the offer.

"Oh no!" she retorted, fulfilling Harm's expectations, "that's quite alright, you do the cooking, Mattie and me'll make short work of this!"

"Yeah, thought you might see things my way," Harm murmured, "But before we bury ourselves in hard labour..." he paused seeing the anticipation on both their faces, "We need to issue a bulletin, and bring certain people up to date!"

Catherine gasped and blusded, clapping both hands to her cheeks in chagrin, "Of course! But isn't it too early? Tricia and Frank!" she said to Mattie in an urgent aside.

Harm checked his watch, "No, allowing for the time difference, it's eight twenty in La Jolla. They'll be up! Mom's got nearly as much work to do as I have!"

Ignoring Catherine's skeptical sniff, Harm picked up the 'phone and punched in the familiar number, waiting for a reply. Harm proved right, Frank picked up on the fourth ring, "Burnett"

"Hey Frank, it's Harm. Just calling to wish you a Merry Christmas, and to say thank you for the gifts..."

"And your Mom's and mine to you and yours for their presents to us!" Frank returned, "And of course, Merry Christmas to you too!"

"Oh... and there's one other thing, Frank..."

"Stop trying to play me, son! What is it?"

"Well, we went to Family Court yesterday, and we were granted temporary custody of Mattie!"

"That's great, Harm... but, wait... did you say temporary custody?"

"Yeah, Tom Johnson, Mattie's father returned from wherever he's been hiding out and tried to challenge our petition. But, you recall I told you he had milked the company? Well, there was a fugitive warrant out for his arrest, so the Sheriff arrested him, and we have to wait for his criminal case hearing, and if he's convicted - it looks like a slam-dunk - the Family Court Judge has more less told that she'll strip him of his parental rights. If that happens, then I guess Mattie will stay with us until she decides other wise!"

"That's great son! Any thoughts on making it an official adoption if she does?"

"Uh... well... we hadn't discussed that, Frank."

"You might want to think about that son, If you get shipped out somewhere permanent it'll make it a lot easier to take Mattie with you if you've legally adopted her!"

"Yeah... yeah..." Harm replied thoughtfully. "Is Mom there? I'd best bring her up to speed myself; I'll never hear the end of it if I don't speak to her on Christmas Day!"

"You got that right, son!" Frank' grin could plainly be heard in his voice.

"Yeah, I'll just have a quick word, and then I'll let the girls loose on her!"

xxix-xxix-xxix-xxix-xxix

By early afternoon, Harm was satisfied, the table in the as yet unused formal dining-room was extended and covered with a snow white Irish linen tablecloth on which he had set six settings, using the best flatware, silverware and crystal that he and Catherine had between them. The antique zinc-lined chilled drinks cabinet was packed with cold drinks maintained at fridge temperature by the half a dozen plastic containers of dry-ice that had spent the previous forty-eight hours in the freezer.

He adjusted the crystal bud-vase that stood at the centre of the table and stood back to admire his handiwork, nodded, dusted his hands together with an air of accomplishment, and walked through to the lounge, carefully closing the door behind him. He was met with a matched pair of fulminating glares which had no other effect on him, other than to cause him to smile innocently and in appreciation of the sight that awaited him. Not only had Catherine and Mattie tidied the lounge, they had also yielded to his arguments that as Christmas was a special day, they ought to make an effort and wear something other than jeans and sweatshirts or joggers and old shirts. The discussion had been brief and lively, but he had prevailed in the end and Mattie had relented enough to wear a brand new sea-green blouse that had arrived for her from La Jolla, together with a pair of tan twill pants, while Catherine had opted for a Prussian blue blouse and a pair of grey dress-pants that she had bought in the vain hope they were the same shade as her grey suit jacket.

"Very nice, ladies!" Harm said enthusiastically, "you both look stunning!"

"Yeah, yeah!" Catherine retorted crossly, "Harm, it's nearly half past two, if we don't sit down to dinner soon, we won't have time to visit Mom, and we'd promised we see her today!"

"We did, Catherine, we did. And I never made a promise I didn't intend to keep! And you're right, time is getting on, so shall we get the food from the kitchen and take it through?"

Ignoring Mattie's mutinous mutter of "About time!" Harm led his girls into the kitchen where the refectory table almost groaned under the weight of the dishes on it.

"Harm! You've made way too much!" Catherine protested.

"It's Christmas!" Harm defended himself, "It's supposed to be a feast!"

Catherine and Mattie looked at each other again and once more shook their heads before they followed Harm, now with the carving dish of turkey in his hands through the connecting door and into the dining room, where they stopped dead and just stood and stared at the display.

"Oh, wow!" Catherine breathed, "Now I can see why you wanted us to make an effort! Harm, this is just… amazing."

"Yeah… It's like something out of a Hollywood film!" Mattie endorsed, using the highest form of praise that she could think of.

"It is, Mattie it is!" Catherine agreed with a smile as Harm's face suffused with pleasure, but then her eyes narrowed with suspicion, "Harm… there are six place settings, and at least twice as much food as we can eat! Are we expecting guests?"

"No… but it is Christmas, and sometimes people drop round unexpectedly, and it's good to have a little extra ready, just in case…"

Catherine shook her head, and looked at Mattie, "He's up to something!"

"Yeah," Mattie looked at Harm, "Have you invited Jen and Lynne?"

"No… no, I haven't. In fact, if I remember correctly, Lynne is on leave and has gone to her boyfriend's parent's house up in Ann Arbor for the holiday, and Jen has gone to Harriet Sims' place to keep her company while Bud's away!"

Catherine looked at Mattie, "What do you think, Kiddo?"

"I don't think anything, I know he's lying!" Mattie affirmed with a jerk of her chin towards the window, "There's a car just pulled up outside!"

"Where?" Catherine almost shouldered Harm aside as she crossed to the window, and after a minute or so, she gasped, and turned towards him with tears in her eyes, "Harm, it's Mom!"

"What?" Mattie exclaimed and joined Catherine at the window just in time to see Alison Cameron wheeling Esther up the driveway to the front door.

"Well, should we go and let them in?" Harm asked with a huge grin.

"Damn straight!" Catherine half laughed and half sobbed, "But Harmon Rabb, we _will_ be having a long conversation about this later!"

Harm was the first to, and indeed, out of the door as Alison needed his brute strength to get Esther's chair up the steps on to the porch, where she was swamped by Mattie and then by Catherine's hugs and kisses.

"Hey take it easy!" Esther protested her eyes dancing, "Me and my sidekick here made a break from the jug! How about getting us under cover before the feds see us! We gotta be on their most wanted list!"

"Mom! Stop teasing us! What are you doing here?" And then suspicion became certainty, "Harmon Rabb this is your doing!"

"Let's get Esther inside, and then we'll make a full confession!"

Catherine's eyebrows rose, 'We?' she thought, but stood aside as Harm manoeuvred Esther's wheelchair through into the hallway, where he divested her of her outer layer of wraps, while Mattie shyly offered to take Alison Cameron's coat and hang it on the rack just inside the door.

Harm then wheeled Esther directly into the dining room, where with a flourish he produced a glass of sherry for Catherine and Alison, cocking an inquiring eye at Esther as he did so, "Oh, by all means!" Alison said with a smile, "but remember Esther, one glass of sherry and one small glass of wine. That's your limit!"

"Yes, Doctor," Esther said so meekly that Alison shot her another look.

"Your timing is impeccable, Alison," Harm complimented her, "Please, sit down, all of you, I'm just about ready to start serving!"

There was comparative silence while Harm served up bowls of a clear soup, "Three mushroom soup, made with vegetable stock!" he announced as murmurs of appreciation rose from the others at the table.

Catherine drank half her soup, and then with curiosity eating her alive, she put her soup spoon down, "OK, Harm, give!"

"Give?" he replied with an air of innocence.

"Yeah, give. Just how did you bust Mom out of Kresge?"

"I couldn't have done it without Alison," he hedged, "She's just as much to blame!"

"Don't you dare to try to blame me, Commander Rabb!" Alison Cameron protested with a laugh, as she turned to Catherine. "It's entirely his fault. He asked me about ten days ago whether Esther was fit enough to spend a few hours with her family on Christmas. I said I'd need to monitor her condition quite carefully before I came to a decision. So I kept a close eye on her, and finally agreed that she could come, but that she'd need medical or nursing supervision…"

"So…" Harm took up the story, "I asked Alison whether she'd pulled duty on Christmas Day, and if not, and with her being new in town did she have any plans, and as she didn't, I suggested that she provide Esther's medical supervision and come and share dinner with us!"

"Yep, she busted me out of the joint. Just as slick as you please!" Esther contributed, chuckling all the while.

"Did you know this was going to happen, Mom?" Catherine demanded.

"I didn't have a clue, dear, until Doctor Alison turned up at my bedside with a bag of my clothes and told me to hurry up and get dressed!"

Catherine turned a bemused look on both Harm and Alison in turn, "I'm still not clear how you organised this, much less how you managed to keep it a secret from Mom. I can only come to the conclusion that you Alison, are almost as sly as a certain sneaky squid of my acquaintance!"

Alison smiled, "If you don't mind, I'll take that as a compliment!"

The interrogation over, the conversation became general as the soup was finished, and Harm moved around the table collecting the empty soup dishes, and indicating to Mattie that he could do with her help in bring the remaining hot dishes of the main course to the table.

They were laden with trays holding serving dishes of peas, buttered carrots, mashed potatoes, roast potatoes, mustard and honey roast parsnips, a plate of stuffing, the sauce boat, and all the other extras that serve to lift the Christmas meal above the ordinary, when a knock at the front door brought them to a standstill.

Harm put his tray back down on the kitchen table, "Can you come back and make a second trip, Squirt, while I answer the door?"

Without waiting for an answer, he untucked his tie from between the second and third buttons of his shut and opened the door.

"Donnie!" he exclaimed in surprise as he recognised Catherine's brother standing on the porch, "Come in, come in! Merry Christmas, we weren't expecting you and…?" Harm left the question hanging.

Donnie grinned self-consciously as he stepped through the door, holding his hand out to his companion, an attractive red-head with a determined jut to her jaw.

"Catherine!" Harm called over his shoulder without giving Donnie a chance to reply, much less introduce his companion, "It's Donnie! Here, let me take your coats!" Donnie stood back as Harm helped the red-head to shrug out of her coat before hanging it on the rack next to Alison Cameron's.

Catherine came rushing from the dining room and threw her arms around Donnie's neck enveloping him in a fierce hug, which he returned with equal fervour as they exchanged brotherly and sisterly kisses.

Breaking free of Catherine's embrace, Donnie caught the red-head's hand in his and led her forward, "Catherine, Harm, I'd like you to meet Christine – Chrissie, my fiancée!"

Catherine's delighted smile lit up her face, "Oh, Donnie! I'm so happy for you! Mom will be thrilled! Come on in, come on in! Mom!" she called ahead, "Donnie's here; and he's got some news – brilliant news!"

Donnie stood back to let Catherine usher Chrissie into the dining room, and urgently grasped Harm's sleeve, "Mom _is_ here then?"

"Yeah, she's here, safe and sound," Harm assured Catherine's brother.

"Thank God! When we got to the hospital and she wasn't there…" Donnie mustered a weak grin, and shrugged his shoulders.

Harm led him in to the dining room, where Esther had had her chair turned away from the table. Her eyes misted over slightly as Donnie dropped to his knees beside her, slid his arms carefully around her and hugged her tenderly. "Merry Christmas, Mom!" he said as he kissed her gently on the forehead.

"It is truly a Merry Christmas now!" Esther agreed, stretching out a hand as Donnie got to his feet and clasping both her children's hands she smiled up at them, "It's so good to see you both together again! It doesn't happen enough! I know, I know!" she glared at Donnie as he made to speak, "I know your job is important to you, and takes you away for weeks at a time, but you'll let me wish it didn't, won't you?"

Harm was bustling about in the background setting another place at the table and borrowing a chair from the kitchen to make a place for Donnie and Chrissie, but he still managed to listen to scraps of the conversation, and clearly heard Donnie's reply.

"Mom, not only will I let you wish it, but before we start on that, there's someone I'd like you to meet! Mom, this is Christine Janssen, better known as Chrissie, and she has made me the happiest and proudest man alive, by agreeing to marry me!"

Esther's "Oh!" of pleased surprise was all the result that Donnie could have wished for, and his smile only broadened as Esther regained her poise, and adopting her sparrow-like tilt of the head, smiled at Chrissie and said, "Oh, please, come here, dear and let me have a look at you!"

Chrissie approached the chair, and gracefully dropped to her knees, "I'm very pleased to meet you, Mrs Gale," she said in a pleasingly musical voice.

Esther considered her carefully, taking in the red hair, the green eyes and fresh complexion. She liked the way the young woman looked straight back at her, and she noted with a smile the determined jut of Chrissie's chin. "Oh, you mustn't call me Mrs Gale," she smiled, "It makes me think of my husband's mother!" she gave a theatrical shiver. "She was a terrible woman, you know, scared me nigh on to death!"

"Oh Mom, how can you tell such lies about grandma?" Catherine scolded her mom, "Don't you listen to her, Chrissie, Grandma Gale was a wonderful old lady!"

Chrissie smiled, "So… what do I call you?"

"Well, you could call me 'mom'. But if you're not comfortable with that, then do as Harm and Mattie do, call me 'Esther'!"

Chrissie chuckled, "I think I'll have to work on that for a while!"

"As you please, dear," Esther smiled, "But right now you ought to get up, and sit yourself down at the table!"

Once Donnie and Chrissie were seated, Harm and Mattie rushed the vegetables back to the kitchen to nuke them back to edible warmth, and the meal continued, with Catherine, Donnie and Alison commenting on the, to them, unusual accompaniments to the roast turkey.

"Arrr! To be sure!" Harm overacted, "'Tis from me ould mammy's soide of the family, so 'tis! 'Tis a Good ould Oirish menu, that Oi've prepared to tickle yer fancy!"

Mattie collapsed in giggles and Alison, Catherine and Chrissie were hard put not to follow her lead, while Donnie looked bemused, and Esther chuckled silently, her eyes dancing with laughter once more.

"I… I didn't kn… know that yo… your …m… mother was Irish!" Catherine stuttered.

"To be sure, to be sure!" Harm continued in his outrageous stage-brogue, "And where d'ye think she came by a name loike Pádraigín Siobhan, if she wasn't from the Ould Sod! Oi'll have ye know that the mammy came by her name honestly!"

"Harm! Seriously!" Catherine protested, now in dire straits.

"Oh, alright," Harm relented, "Of course Mom's not Irish, but she _is_ descended from an Irish family, and her mother did pass down various recipes from the old country to her. Unfortunately for my taste, Irish cooking is heavily dependent on meat, so I don't use a lot of the handed down stuff!"

Chrissie had cautiously tasted the heavy bread like substance that Harm cheerfully told her was sage, onion and chestnut stuffing, and to her surprise found that although the taste was different, it wasn't unpleasant, and her fears somewhat allayed settled down to enjoy the meal.

"So Donnie, you were going to tell me that my wishes were going to come true?" Esther asked as she regretfully laid down her knife and fork. The food was good, and she had enjoyed what she'd eaten, but these days she found that she didn't have much of an appetite and that a very little satisfied her.

Donnie finished chewing the forkful of food in his mouth, swallowed and took a sip of sparkling cider before he answered, "I was going to tell you that your wish _might_ be about to come to true. I've applied for a promotion to area headquarters in Baltimore and the rumour is that I stand a good chance of getting it. I know it's not right on your doorstep, but it is mostly a static position and it's better than me jetting off to New Mexico or Texas every five minutes…"

"Oh, Donnie, that's excellent news! Is that what you were so excited about, Catherine?"

"No, Mom. I was more excited about meeting my new sister-in-law to be! And Donnie, Chrissie, just in case I forgot to say it before, congratulations to you both!"

Chrissie blushed and managed a mumbled "Thanks," while Donnie sat back looking as happy as a dog with two tails.

"Have you set a date yet?" Esther asked eagerly.

"Not yet, Mom. We're waiting to hear whether I get the promotion, and then we'll be looking for someplace to live." He grinned, "We don't want to wait too long to start a family, not now my little sis has set us an example!"

Esther burst into another trill of delighted laughter, while Catherine glared up the length of the table at him and said in a warning voice, "Donnie!" while Chrissie just blushed, and pretended to be concentrating on the food on her plate.

Alison Cameron smiled at the by-play, and leaning towards Mattie asked quietly, "Are they always like this?"

Mattie shrugged, "I don't know… I've only met Catherine's brother a couple of times. But Catherine and Harm are always teasing each other – and me!" she acknowledged with a grin, "So I guess, yeah, I reckon they must be!"

Alison nodded, the decision she'd made to leave Princetown behind her was, she was beginning to realise, one of the best moves she had made since qualifying. The pressure of work was less, and although the salary wasn't quite as high, she still had more than enough for her immediate needs. All she needed now was for her divorce to become final and then she could start looking for a good man to be the father of the children she wanted. She took a surreptitious look towards the head of the table, where Harm was teasing Esther in an undertone and wondered silently why was it, wherever she went, all the good ones were taken?

Eventually the volume of conversation rose as plates were cleared, but the talk wasn't loud enough to allow Catherine to miss the sound of Beth's grumbles coming from the baby monitor on the window-sill behind her. With an apologetic smile, she said, "I'm sorry, people, but…" and she indicated the monitor, "duty calls!"

"Do you want me to go?" Harm asked half rising from his chair.

"No… she'll need feeding, not just changing," Catherine smiled, "after all, we've had our dinner, so she'll be wanting hers!"

Harm nodded and then turned to Mattie, "Give me a hand to clear away here, and by the time we're ready for dessert, Catherine should be back!"

"Let me give you a hand with that," Donnie offered.

"No… you sit still, Donnie!" Harm grinned, "Your chore is coming up later!"

Donnie grinned back, "Those that cook don't wash up?" he guessed.

"Spot on!" Mattie informed him with a grin, "so it looks like it'll be us two on KP together!"

"KP?" Donnie asked.

"Yeah, kitchen police! Sheesh! Don't you know anything?"

Donnie laughed, as Mattie's words drew a "Hey, Squirt! Play nice!" from Harm.

Catherine made it back to the table before Harm brought in the dessert on a salver, a black mound of something, which burnt with a blue flame.

Those seated at the table just looked at it in open mouthed surprise, until Esther cried out, "Oh! How wonderful! Plum pudding! I haven't seen one of those for years!"

"Yep!" Harm grinned, pleased with the success of his _tour de force_, "An Irish recipe, made with Guinness and rum and flamed with brandy!"

Harm waited until those flames had died down and then served everyone with what Mattie considered to be a small portion of the pudding, saying "You should try it with the brandy butter, or the double cream."

Mattie helped herself to some cream and as soon as she had tasted her first spoonful, she realised that on top the meal she had already eaten, a dessert this rich and heavy only a needed a small portion.

As the meal drew to its conclusion, Harm stood once more and said to Donnie, "I'm going to break with tradition and make a start on the clearing up, would you like to join me, so that the ladies can have Beth to themselves for half an hour or so?"

Donnie smiled easily, "Sounds like a plan! But I hope you've got a dishwasher plumbed in!"

"Damn straight!" Harm replied with a laugh, "First job I did when we moved in, otherwise it would have been Catherine and Mattie doing the dishes!"

Donnie squinted at him for a second, before he grinned broadly, "Yeah, riiight!" he drawled.

Harm shrugged, "You got me, but what can I say?"

Even with the dishwasher operating at maximum capacity, it still took over the half an hour for Harm and Donnie to wander through to the lounge with Harm carrying a tray loaded with cups, saucers, cream and sugar, while Donnie brought in a large coaster and the coffee machine carafe.

Esther sat in her wheelchair at the far end of the occasional table, while Catherine, Beth and Chrissie occupied the couch. Alison sat in one of the armchairs while Mattie was sitting next to the couch on the huge bean bag that normally lived her room. Harm ushered Donnie into the remaining armchair and then disappeared into the den, returning in a few minutes with the wing chair that stood under the window between the two desks, and was a match to the chair and love seat that were kept in the guest room.

Once everybody was seated and had been provided with coffee, Mattie cleared her throat, and looking at Harm and Catherine for approval, said, "Esther, Harm promised we'd see you today, but Catherine and I figured that we'd visit you at Kresge. We didn't know that our fine, honest sailor could be so darn sneaky! And we were going to take your presents to you there. But seeing as you're here, I figured that maybe you could save us the trip!" She handed Esther a soft, gift-wrapped parcel, "This one's from Catherine," Mattie said.

Esther's hands shook as she opened the package, and then as she saw the contents she said "Oh…" and held up for all to see a navy blue cashmere shawl.

"To go with your bed-jacket, Mom," Catherine told her, "It'll help keep the drafts off you."

"Thank you, dear," Esther said, "It's beautiful."

"This one is from Harm!" Mattie puffed as she carefully placed what seemed to a heavier parcel on Esther's knee. Esther smiled across at Harm, and carefully removed the paper and a layer of protective cushioning wrap, "Thank you!" she said to Harm a smile of delight on her face.

"What is it Mom?" Donnie asked.

"A boxed set of the complete works of Jane Austen!" Esther smiled, "Thank you, Harm. These will do very nicely to keep me occupied when I'm back in the jug!"

"Mom! You mustn't call Kresge that, not when Alison's here and she's been so good to you, to us all!"

"Oh, don't mind me!" Alison grinned, "I've not been there anywhere as long as Esther, and I've already called it far worse than that!"

Mattie had waited patiently until the teasing finished and then handed Esther a last package, "This one's from me… after Catherine's and Harm's gifts it's kinda lame… but…"

"Don't you dare apologise for it, Mattie Grace!" Esther scolded her, stripping the paper to reveal a hefty paperback book, "'The Collected Poems of Christina Rossetti'," Esther read out loud, "Why, Mattie Grace, how did you know…"

"Well, you quoted her a couple of times, and then I saw one of her poems in a magazine in your room at Kresge, and the page was sort folded open right back, and looked pretty well thumbed, so I figured you kinda liked her stuff…"

"I do, I do!" Esther exclaimed, fishing a folded Kleenex from her cardigan cuff and blotting her eyes. "Thank you child, thank you so much. In fact, thank you all!"

Chrissie looked across at Donnie, "We should do it now, too," she prompted him.

Donnie nodded; "If you'll excuse me?" he said to the company at large and left the room. A few seconds later they heard the front door open and close, and then again in a minute or so just before Donnie came back into the room his hands full of another gaily wrapped parcel which he took across to Esther, and kneeling down by her chair said, "These are from Chrissie and me, Mom."

Esther again stripped the wrapping off the contents and then smiled and said, "Between you all, you have certainly made sure that the inner and outer Esther are well looked after. Thank you all again!"

Catherine squinted in Esther's direction trying to make out what her mom had nestled amongst the ruins of the wrapping paper on her lap.

Esther followed the direction of Catherine's eyes, and grinned mischievously, tilting her head to the side again, "Miss Nosy! Remember, curiosity killed the cat… Catherine!" and she held up a pair of bed-jackets, one in lilac and the other in pastel yellow.

Catherine blushed and wailed in protest, "Oh, Mom! That is so not fair!" while Donnie gave a crack of laughter.

"Oh Lord! I haven't heard that since you were in Junior High, Catherine! All those years ago!"

"Hey, it wasn't that long ago!" she protested, "at least not as long ago as when you were in Junior High!"

"Only three years, Catherine!" her elder brother reminded her.

"Three years is still three years!" Catherine retorted with a triumphant grin.

Mattie knelt down by Esther's chair and gathered up the discarded wrapping paper, all the while listening to the banter between brother and sister, hoping of course to pick up some blackmail material for future use. The teenager was rapidly coming to the conclusion that living in such a lively household was going to require more weapons and ammunition than she currently possessed. She was going to have to try and pump Jen for information on Harm though, 'Huh, good luck with that!' she told herself.

She came back to the present with the words, "Trivial Pursuit, are you sure?" ringing in her ears.

"Sure, why not?" Harm said lazily, "You and me against the ladies!"

Donnie grinned, "On your head be it!"

A quick discussion turned the proposed game into a three way contest. Harm and Donnie would play against Mattie and Alison on one team and Catherine and Chrissie on a third team, while Esther refereed the game.

The board was set up and Alison and Mattie took first go. Two questions later, they answered incorrectly and with a "Rats! Curses, foiled again!" from Alison they passed the die to Chrissie.

Just eleven minutes later a disbelieving Harm, who hadn't had a single chance to even roll the die watched as Chrissie, with her full cheese on the centre spot triumphantly exclaimed, "Lake Titicaca!"

"Told you so!" a grinning Donnie said.

"Absolutely incredible!" Harm breathed, "Is it like that…"

"Every time!" Donnie agreed emphatically, as he moved around to give Chrissie a congratulatory hug and a dropped a kiss on her forehead.

Harm shook his head in wonder, "Another game?" he suggested.

Chrissie grinned, "You all go ahead and play this time," she said to Esther, "I'll be the referee!"

The next game took much longer to complete, but it eventually finished, amidst much laughter and joking accusations and counter accusations of cheating, in a fairly honourable three-way tie.

Harm excused himself to the kitchen where he took a platter of sandwiches out of the fridge and stripped them of their foil cover, while Donnie, under Mattie's guidance learned how to brew a pot of tea according to the Rabb method.

Esther took the opportunity afforded by Harm's absence, and Chrissie and Alison falling into a conversation about Esther's condition, to beckon her daughter to come closer to her. "I'm going to leave soon," she said quietly, "Alison's been looking at her watch, for the last twenty minutes; she's supposed to get me back to Kresge by six." Esther's face crinkled in a smile, "I doubt we'll get there by then. But I am beginning to feel tired! I've had a wonderful day, thanks to you, and Harm, and Mattie and Alison, but I'll be glad of a cup of tea before we go!"

Catherine nodded, "It's been wonderful having you here today, Mom. We've been so lucky to have you here with us, when I think back to that night last spring…"

"You mean the night you _didn't_ get married to Harm?" Esther seized on the opportunity for which she had been waiting.

Catherine blushed, "Yes, that's exactly the night I mean!"

Esther nodded, her expression turning grave as she asked gently, "And are you going to be following your brother's example, and really get married any time soon?"

Catherine smiled and her eyes went automatically to Harm as he bore the tray of sandwiches across to the occasional table, "We haven't really discussed it, Mom. But yes, soon, I think."

Esther smiled and leaned back in her chair, and closed her eyes, "Good, she whispered, "I'd like to see you all settled before I go."

Catherine gripped Esther's hand, "Don't you dare start talking like that! Don't you dare give up! Not now! I want Beth to get to know her marvellous, wonderful Grandma!" she whispered fiercely.

Esther opened her eyes, "Oh, I'd love that too, dear, and I'm certainly going to do my best to make it happen! Don't you fret about that!"

Catherine smiled and made a brave attempt to hide her fears, "You're bad, Mom!" she declared shakily.

"You'd better believe it, kid!" Esther grinned in satisfaction, "Now, if my granddaughter's awake, I'd like a few minutes with her!"

Catherine got to her feet with a smile and dutifully brought Beth to visit with her grandma. Recently fed, clean and dry Beth was wide awake and happily 'swimming' as Mattie had called the seemingly aimless movement of Beth's tiny arms and legs, and Esther peering down into Beth's blue eyes was convinced that her granddaughter was not only focussing on the lined face hovering above her but was smiling up at her. "Hah! Wind my foot!"

"Mom?" Donnie asked, apparently the only one to have heard her.

"These doctors!" Esther said contemptuously, "They know nothing! Oh, no, not you Doctor Alison!" the old lady assured the stunned Alison Cameron, "I meant those doctors who say that a baby can't smile until it's six months old, and that what looks like a smile is just a silent grimace caused by wind!"

"Whew, I'm glad to hear it!" Alison Cameron smiled, "but you're getting testy again, Esther. And you know that means you're getting tired. She smiled at Harm and Catherine, now seated side by side on the couch. "You've been very, very kind to an almost complete stranger. Thank you for inviting me into your home on this special day! But I really must get Esther back to the hospital. We're late enough as it is, and I don't want them marking her down as AWOL!"

"Never AWOL, Alison," Catherine corrected her, "This is a navy family, so it would have to be UA!"

"UA? Oh… I get it, unauthorised absence!" Alison exclaimed, pleased with unravelling the mystery.

Donnie looked inquiringly at Chrissie who nodded, "We need to get going too," he said apologetically, "We hadn't planned on being away quite so long, and Chrissie's back at work in Baltimore tomorrow – she's a sub at the Baltimore Sun, so we need to get on our way!"

"Oh, I'd hoped you were staying over!" Catherine's disappointment was palpable,

"Sorry, sis," Donnie held his arms out to her, and Catherine willingly shared a hug with him. Donnie dropped a kiss on her forehead, "Hey, if I get this promotion, Baltimore's not that far away, only an hour so on the I-95 and the Beltway. We'll be able to see a lot more of each other!"

"Yeah, I s'pose." Catherine agreed unhappily.

Fifteen minutes later Harm, Catherine and Mattie watched and waved goodbye as first Alison Cameron and then Donnie drove away up Woodford road, their car tyres leaving neat tracks in the light dusting of snow that now coated the ground.

"Come on, let's get back inside, before we freeze!" Harm encouraged his girls, and with an arm around both of them he ushered them back into the warmth.

Almost automatically the three headed for the kitchen, and Catherine and Mattie plumped down into kitchen chairs, while Harm plugged in the kettle, "Teas, everyone?" he queried, and received two nods in affirmation.

"And does anyone want anything to eat?" he asked teasingly. Mattie groaned in disbelief, while Catherine just gave him a level look. "I'll take that as a no, then, shall I?"

"That had better be a rhetorical question!" Catherine told him

Harm turned back to the kettle to hide a smile, at least his nonsense seemed to have roused Catherine from the fit of the dismals into which it seemed she was in danger of falling.

Handing out the mugs of tea he smiled brightly, "I take it everyone's had enough of Trivial Pursuit? So… how about a movie?"

"What have you got in mind?" Mattie asked suspiciously.

"How about 'The Princess Bride'?" Harm asked, making a major sacrifice. It was a film he loathed but one that he knew Catherine loved.

"No… not tonight Harm," Catherine surprised him by her refusal, "but how about Casablanca?"

"Casablanca, what's that all about?" Mattie asked.

"It's a classic!" Harm enthused.

"I s'pose that means it's black and white and hasn't got any action!" Mattie complained.

"C 'mon, Squirt! It's time we exposed you to some culture!" Harm told her with a grin.

xxix-xxix-xxix-xxix-xxix

Once again Harm lay in bed waiting for Catherine to finish seeing to Beth's needs but he was surprised when she reappeared in a very short time and put Beth in her bassinet without feeding her.

Catherine saw the expression on his face, and as she slid under the comforter, "I fed her a little earlier, while you were in the shower. It's part of a plan to start her sleeping a little longer through the night."

"Oh?" Harm turned on to his side so he was facing Catherine.

"Yeah, we want her to start staying awake after feeds, so that she doesn't get the fixed idea that she needs to be fed before she sleeps. That way it's reckoned she'll sleep longer when she does go, and won't automatically demand to be fed when she wakes up before she goes back to sleep!"

"Oh… makes sense, I suppose," Harm agreed, twisting over on to his back and reaching for the light switch. He plunged the room into darkness and was rewarded by the weight of Catherine's head coming to rest in the hollow of his shoulder, together with her contented sigh.

"Harm," she murmured after a couple of minutes' silence, "Have I said thank you for arranging Mom's jail-break? It was a lovely surprise, and kudos to you for keeping it a secret from me and Mattie, but how in hell did you manage to keep it from Mom?"

"Native intelligence, low animal cunning and a huge dollop of luck!" Harm chuckled. "Do you think she really enjoyed herself? I noticed she was getting a bit tired…"

"Yeah she was at the end, but I think she put off going back to the hospital because she wanted a word with me on my own…"

"M'mm," Harm nodded, knowing that Catherine would feel the movement, "First weekend in April then?"

Catherine bolted upright in bed and switched on her bedside light, "Harmon Rabb!" she exclaimed in a fierce whisper, "Was that your idea of a proposal?"

Harm pulled her back down and twisted over to raise himself above her, and then kissed her long, thoroughly and very, very passionately.

"Yes, it was!" he panted when lack of air forced them apart, "Any objections?"

"No… none that I can think of!" Catherine smiled, her eyes glowing and her lips swollen.

"So is that a yes?" Harm persisted.

"I guess, so," Catherine admitted.

They gazed into each other's eyes for a long moment and then Harm rolled over and collapsed onto his back as he and Catherine lay side by side holding hands and trying to stifle their giggles so as not to disturb their sleeping daughter.


	30. Chapter 30

**30**

Harm had been woken twice more in the night, once he had been able to turn over away from the light as Catherine attended to Beth's needs, the second time he groaned, and rolled out of bed, lifted Beth out of her bassinet and headed for the bathroom, cursing silently as he stubbed his toe on the leg of the bed, to change her before he took her downstairs for her bottled feed.

His third wake-up call of the day was much more pleasant as Catherine's tongue delicately traced the contours of his crumpled ear.

"M'mm…I'll give you forty years to stop that…" he murmured.

"So… you think we'll still be together in forty years?" Catherine's lazy early morning voice challenged him.

"H'mm… Is that your way of asking if I meant what I said last night?"

"Yeah, I suppose it is…"

"Well, I meant it, alright. Did you mean it when you said 'yes'?"

"Damn straight I did!" Catherine declared emphatically. "You'd better not be having second thoughts, sailor. I ain't letting you off the hook so easy!"

Harm turned his head towards her and gently kissed the tip of her nose, "Good! Because there's no way, I'm letting you slide, either!" He changed target and captured her lips with his, deepening the kiss for a few seconds, until she moaned softly, before he pulled his head back and smiled into her eyes, "Hold that thought, boo'ful!" he said as he slipped out of bed.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Catherine cried in protest, sitting up as he crossed the room to his closet.

"Nowhere!" he grinned as he returned to Catherine's side, sitting on the edge of the bed, and placing a small leather box on the sheets between them. "I asked mom to bring this with her, when she visited last month," he opened the box to show Catherine, "It's the Rabb family ring. It's been passed from mother to son for at least four generations, so the son can place it on the finger of the woman he asks to be his wife. I want you to have it as a token of my love for you and for you to wear it for the rest of your life…"

Catherine blinked back sudden tears, "Of course I'll wear it Harm!" She held out her hand, and Harm, after gently kissing her fingertips slid the ring into its rightful place. Catherine took a moment to gaze at it on her finger, feeling that never before in her life had anything seemed so… right!

"It's beautiful, Harm, and so was that little speech, but you said all you needed to say last night!"

"Yeah, well… I should have had the ring and the speech ready then, but…"

"I don't know about that," Catherine grinned, "Last night seemed like it was a good fit for us. We've been so unconventional about this whole relationship, right from the get-go, so why spoil a good thing?"

"You do have a point there, spook!" Harm said.

"I know I do!" Catherine twinkled, her expression and the tilt of her head once more forcibly reminding Harm of Esther, "So, shut up and kiss me!" she told him.

So he did.

xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx

Mattie woke late and then took a leisurely shower and shampoo, sitting then in her bathrobe while she plied hair-dryer and brush over her wild mane. It had been kinda fun to get all dressed up the last couple of days, but now she was happy to slip back into a pair of jeans and sweatshirt and be herself again. And now dressed accordingly she made her way downstairs to the kitchen where Harm was dawdling over a cup of coffee, while Catherine was whispering to Beth, who seemed to be making a deliberate effort to follow Catherine's index finger as she slowly moved it left to right and back again across the baby's field of vision.

"Morning guys," Mattie said as she headed straight for the coffee.

Harm and Catherine returned the greeting, Harm adding, "What do you want for breakfast, Mats?" as he made to get up from his chair.

"What? After yesterday? You must be joking!" Mattie exclaimed as she slumped into her usual chair at the kitchen table. "I won't need anything to eat for a week!"

Harm grinned, "OK, I know you probably don't think you need anything, but you _do_ need to eat something!"

"OK, OK," Mattie groaned, getting up, and rummaging in the pantry, "Here, a breakfast bar, OK?"

Harm nodded, it wasn't much, but it was a healthier option than many she could have chosen from, and tranquillity restored he was content to just sit and watch Catherine and Beth, and with gleeful anticipation of the teenager's reaction, wait until Mattie spotted Catherine's ring.

It seemed that Mattie wasn't particularly alert this morning, something that needed to be addressed before school started back just in case there was an issue that need to be taken care of, in the meantime he could barely restrain his grin as he noticed Mattie looking over the rim of her coffee mug at Catherine and Elizabeth without her mind registering what she was seeing – Catherine's ring was, after all, in plain sight.

Mattie took small bites from her breakfast bar, alternating them with sips from her coffee mug and gazing at Catherine and Beth, enjoying just soaking up the peaceful atmosphere at the breakfast table, so absorbed had she become in the ambiance that it was with a start of surprise she realised that she had finished her coffee, and with a flash of annoyance she glanced over her shoulder to check the level of the coffee in the carafe, with the intention of pouring a second mug, which she intended to enjoy to the fullest.

As she turned her head, however, she thought she saw a flash of something strange in the corner of her eye. At first she was inclined to dismiss it as a Gneechee, but it didn't look right, not even for one those mysterious only-ever-half-seen-beings, turning her head back towards the table, she tried to see what it was that had attracted her attention.

All appearance of sleepy tranquillity dropped away from her as she suddenly started bolt upright at the table and yelped, "Catherine!"

Beth started to show signs of being disturbed at the sharpness in Mattie's voice and she received a reproving look and a "Ssh!" from both Catherine and Harm, and was forced to sit wriggling with impatience as Catherine soothed Beth back to peace.

After two or three minutes when Beth seemed content to lend Catherine's efforts a measure of success, she turned to Mattie with an air of inquisitive curiosity and asked, "Yes, Mattie? You wanted something?"

Mattie took a deep breath. And in a tightly controlled, level voice she asked, "Catherine, what is that on your hand?"

"What, this?" Catherine held her hand up as if to examine a ring that she hadn't been aware was on her finger, "Oh, this. It's just an old ring that Harm gave me last night!"

"B… but… it… it's on your ring finger, as… as if it was an engagement ring!"

"Well, yes… I suppose it does look like that," Harm chimed in, as he fought to keep the grin off his face.

Mattie realised that she was being teased, and made an effort to keep calm. Fixing an irate eye on Harm she asked, "Did you propose to Catherine last night?"

"Yes, Mattie, yes he did!" Catherine answered with a soft smile across the table at her new fiancé, "And yes, I accepted."

"That's so fantastic!" Mattie grinned, and slipping out of her chair she hugged Harm and Catherine in turn, and gently tickled Beth's tummy, "Did you hear that, Beth? Your Mommy and Daddy are going to get married!"

Mattie stood, smiled in the general direction of all three before re-filling her coffee mug. She sat down again at the table and with her eyes alive with excited interest, turned to Catherine and asked, "What, exactly, did he say?"

Catherine grinned across at Harm, "Oh… well, I told him that Mom had managed to talk to me on my own for a minute or do, and then he said, 'First weekend in April then?' I asked him if that was his idea of a proposal, and he said 'yes', so I said 'OK', and that was it."

Mattie's eyes opened wide with indignation and she gobbled like a turkey for several seconds before croaked out a strangled, "That was it? That was it! Harmon Rabb – don't you have a single romantic bone in your body!"

Harm couldn't resist any longer, and to Mattie's frustration he broke out into a deep chuckle, which caused Catherine to grin in sympathy with him, but did nothing for Mattie's disappointment.

Catherine came to their rescue before Mattie lost her temper, "Matts, we've told you all about our mock wedding with Bud Roberts 'officiating', but we've never told you the full story of how we eventually became a couple, have we? Well, it was just after Harm got fired from the CIA. I was five months pregnant with Beth…"

Mattie sat in silence as Catherine told her the full unexpurgated story of the unconventional start to their relationship, only occasionally blinking at some snippet or other of information and then nodded thoughtfully as Catherine's ended her tale with "So you see, after such an unconventional start, a traditional proposal just wouldn't have been us. And the way he did it, well… _was_ just so totally right!"

Mattie smiled and shook her head wonderingly, "You guys…" she breathed softly and with a smile.

"That's it?" Catherine asked in surprise. She had been mentally braced for a storm of comments and queries. "No, eye rolling? No questions? No comments? Nothing to say?"

Mattie shrugged, "No. You told me what happened, and it… well, you're right… the whole thing is so off-beat, but, yeah, it is you, the two of you."

"Aren't you even curious about whom Beth's father is?" Catherine broached the one subject that she felt needed to be cleared up.

Mattie shrugged again, "No need to ask, I know; Harm's her daddy," she said simply.

Harm reached across the table and covered one of Mattie's hands with his own as Catherine followed suit, taking Mattie's other hand, "Thanks, Mattie," he said.

"Yeah, well… I've a sneaky suspicion that we're going to have to go to Kresge and tell Esther, so I've got a couple of chores I need doing before that, so, if you'll excuse me?"

Harm and Catherine watched her go, Catherine turning to Harm with a slight frown of concern on her face, "Do you think she's really OK with all that, or did I just dump too much on her all at once?"

"She'll be OK," Harm replied, "She's tougher and more savvy than most kids her age. Besides, she loves you way too much to let this get in the way of that!" 'I hope,' he added silently to himself.

xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx

In the intervening two months Mattie had returned to school, where despite her initial reluctance, she soon settled down, made good progress and was making friends. Catherine had gotten one of the limited places at the on-site Langley crèche for Beth and had returned to work. Additionally, Mattie had given every sign of more than just coping well with the full story of Harm and Catherine's somewhat unconventional start to their relationship, making her position clear when asked if she was OK with the new information she had, she had grinned and said, "Hey, when you first brought Catherine out to the hangar, you introduced her to me as your girlfriend, and I could see even back then that you loved each other, even if you two were blind, and that was enough for me. It didn't matter to me then how you met, and it doesn't matter to me now. What matters is that you love each other and you love Beth, and I feel that you love me, well, at least I feel safe, secure and loved, so…"

"Oh, we do, Mats, we do!" Harm declared unreservedly as he folded the teenager in his arms, as she squeaked a protest at being crushed.

Not everything in the life of the little family had gone quite so well, though. In late January, Catherine and Mattie, with Beth were in the Lexus, once more heading for the Albemarle County Courthouse in Charlottesville. Tom Johnson had been tried on two counts, one of theft and one of fraud and had been sentenced to six years imprisonment, now after long and intense discussion the family were returning to court to petition for the repeal of Tom Johnson's parental rights and for the formal adoption of Mattie Grace.

Although Harm tried to project an air of quiet, calm confidence, as he retook his seat at the petitioners' table, flanked by Catherine to his left and Mattie to his right, he was all too aware that there was still plenty of scope for things to go wrong. He was mentally rehearsing his arguments in the face of any possible objections that the judge might raise, when the bailiff's voice rang out through the court-room, "All rise! The Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court of Albemarle County is in session, the Honourable Judge Madeleine Smith presiding!"

Judge Smith surveyed her court-room for a few moments before she took her seat, saying as she did, "Be seated!"

As she had on their previous appearance, she placed her reading glasses on her nose and swiftly refreshed her memory from the file in front of her before peering over the top of them, and addressing the petitioners, her voice level, but as before containing just the hint of warmth.

"Commander Rabb, Miss Gale and Miss… Grace, I see that you are now petitioning the court to terminate Thomas Johnson's paternal rights over Matilda Grace, a minor child. In the light of Mister Johnson's conviction of offences committed against Miss Grace, his incarceration consequent to that conviction, and in consideration of the fact that he had on a prior occasion abdicated his parental responsibilities, I grant the petition. The parental rights of Thomas Johnson in respect of Matilda Grace are terminated with immediate effect!"

Harm relaxed slightly, as did Catherine, but Mattie was too nervous to relax at all, and Harm felt himself growing tense once more as the Judge continued, "I see Commander Rabb that you and Miss Gale are also petitioning for the full, formal adoption of Matilda Grace, a minor child." Judge Smith took off her glasses and continued, "I have read the follow-up reports from Miss Le Moyne, who remains in the position of Guardian _Ad Litem_ in respect of Miss Grace, and I note that you are still resident at the address found suitable by social services, and that Miss Le Moyne is satisfied that Miss Grace is adapting to life as a member of the family. I also note that Miss Grace has returned to school, and according to Miss Le Moyne's report her teachers state that she is doing well in her studies, and making prodigious efforts to catch up with the work she missed last semester. I also see that she has tried out for both the swim team and the volleyball team, and has been accepted as a member of the school's volleyball squad. Miss Grace, you are to be congratulated on the efforts you have made, and Commander Rabb and Miss Gale, you are to be commended on the efforts you have made in caring for Miss Grace. However," and Harm felt himself becoming more tense, "I am concerned that you are petitioning the court as Commander Rabb and Miss Gale. I am happy to extend the term of Miss Grace's custody under your guardianship until she reaches the age of majority, but I am reluctant to grant a petition of joint adoption to two single people. Commander Rabb and Miss Gale, do you have any plans to formalise your relationship?"

Catherine glanced at Harm before she stood, "We do your honour; we have arrangements made to marry on Saturday, April 2nd at the Episcopalian Church in Falls Church."

Judge Smith smiled, "The court offers its congratulations to you both, Miss Gale. But I am still concerned that at this time you and the Commander remain unmarried. Accordingly, the petition for adoption is, at this time, declined. However, you have the court's leave to re-present the petition for full, formal adoption at any time after your marriage when you are able to present it as Commander and Mrs Rabb! This court is adjourned!"

After the judge had left the court room, Harm sank back into his chair and smiled encouragingly at Mattie, "Well, that's half the battle won! We're yours until you're eighteen, and for as much longer after that as you want!"

"Yeah, but continued custody still isn't quite the same as adoption, though is it?" Mattie said, her lips trembling.

"No, not quite," Catherine confirmed as she comforted Beth, who it seemed had picked up on the tension in the air, "But you can take this to the bank, Kiddo: We'll be back here on Monday April 4th!"

"Yeah, I guess," a disconsolate teenager agreed half-heartedly.

xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx

The drive back to the DC area was pretty well silent, which from Harm's point of view was not necessarily a good thing, he was as much subdued by the judge's decision as either Catherine or Mattie, but that disappointment was not the only subject preying on his mind.

Esther had been overjoyed when Catherine and Harm had visited with her the day after Christmas and shown her Catherine's ring and had eagerly joined in planning for the upcoming wedding, including, seeing that her Christmas expedition hadn't seemed to have had any ill-effects, her buying a new outfit in which to attend the ceremony, and then her spirits had received a further boost when Donnie's promotion was confirmed and he and Chrissie began a programme of weekly visits, often staying overnight on the Saturday with Harm and Catherine.

But about three weeks ago, Esther had started to complain of increasing tiredness, and had more and more often started falling asleep in the middle of Harm and Catherine's visits. True, she seemed livelier during Mattie's visits, but Harm wondered if that was because the youngster did have an energising effect on Esther, or whether it was simply a case of Esther being determined not to let Mattie see how much worse she was feeling.

And almost as if she had been reading his mind Catherine asked, "Are we heading straight for home, or are we going by Kresge first?"

"I'm not sure… Yeah, we got half of what we asked for, so that's some kind of win for our side…"

"So why does it feel like we lost?" Mattie demanded, "And why does it make any difference to us visiting with Esther or not?"

"It feels a bit like we lost, Mats, because we didn't get everything we wanted," Catherine sighed.

"And it makes a difference because we visit with Esther to keep her cheerful. We don't want to load her down with our hurts!" Harm added.

"Yeah… OK…" Mattie said slowly even while her brain was racing and after a minute or two she spoke again, "Catherine… when you were a kid, and you fell over and skinned your knees, or fell off your bicycle, or even just felt icky, who did you go to, to make it all better?"

Catherine twisted in her seat to look at the teenager, and nodded, "You're right, Mats. I went to mommy. But… I'm not a kid anymore…!"

"No… but I am!" Mattie retorted, "And it's no good me going to you while I'm hurting, 'cos you're hurting the same as I am…"

Catherine nodded again, and turned her head to look at Harm, "She's right Harm. We do need our mommy."

Harm's faced creased in concern, torn between the need to let his girls seek comfort and the need not to cause Esther any distress. He drove on; his face settled in a frown for a good five minutes as he weighed his options and considered the possible outcomes. At last, he sighed heavily, and in a resigned voice said, "OK, we'll go straight to Kresge, but a warning: If Esther looks like she's getting too upset, then we say goodbye and head on to home! Agreed?"

"Yeah, thanks Harm!" Catherine and Mattie replied in chorus.

The decision made Harm, and although the journey was carried on in almost total silence, noticed an almost instantaneous lightening of mood.

Harm's worries were not totally allayed until Esther, told of the decision of the court struggled upright in bed and held out an arm, beckoning Mattie to come and sit with her. The teenager perched on the edge of the bed and Esther immediately pulled her close, offering unconditional support and whispering soothingly in Mattie's ear.

Mattie gulped, and sobbed, "Oh… Esther!" and then buried her face in the old lady's shoulder while a storm of tears shook her body. Esther looked up at Harm and Catherine, and with her eyes full of compassion, she caressed the teen's back and shoulders and at the same time patted the other side of the bed in a silent invitation for Catherine to join her while she made urgent 'go away' signs at her daughter's fiancé.

Harm, exiled from the room, wandered down the hall to the vending machine, where after a silent debate, he selected a black coffee – as he always did, and as he knew he was going to do before he'd even reached the machine. Grimacing at the bitter, too weak brew, he sipped his increasingly reluctant way through half of it before disposing of the rest of the contents and the paper cup in the nearest trash can before heading back to Esther's bedside.

He stopped on the threshold seeing Esther laid back against the pillows, her eyes shut, looking pale, wan and exhausted, while Catherine still sat on the edge of Esther's bed, her face a mask of concern as she gripped tightly her mother's hand, but of the teenager there was no sign.

"Where's Mattie?" he asked in an urgent whisper.

Although he'd kept his voice low, it was enough to cause Esther to open her eyes, and as she did so, Catherine, before her mother could see her expression, forced the worry from her face and replaced the frown with a slight, if artificial smile.

Esther pushed herself further up the bed, frowning slightly at the effort it took, "Hello, Harm, I'm sorry for sending you away when you only just got here!"

"That's alright, Esther!" Harm assured her as he crossed to the bed and bent to kiss her cheek, noting that once again she was using a nasal cannula.

Esther drew a deep, shuddering breath before she smiled up at him, "I sent Mattie away to the women's room to get freshened up – that girl just hasn't got the right colouring to be able to cry in public!" Esther made a further effort to smile, "So very few girls have, you know!" she confided in a stage whisper, and with a quick sideways look at Catherine.

Harm nodded, he had seen a puffy and red-eyed Harriet Sims on occasion as well as having survived a few of Catherine's pregnancy hormone driven outbursts, and appreciated the truth of what Esther was saying, but… "If Mattie's getting over her tears for a minute or two, then we can forget about her, and concentrate on the really important person… you!"

"Oh! Don't you dare say that, Harmon Rabb!" Esther replied with a hint of her old spirit, "Today was supposed to be all about Mattie, and she'd built up her hopes so much, and that there's bound to have been a reaction. Why, I'll bet a dime to a dollar that even if the judge had granted the adoption, Mattie would still have burst into tears!" Esther finished her rant and once again lay back against the pillows, her heaving chest showing how much effort she had been forced to make in order to deliver her scold.

"I know you're right, Esther," Harm admitted, carefully not raising his eyes to meet the anguished look Catherine sent in his direction, "But although I love her to bits and Mattie's remarkably mature in some ways, she still needs to understand that the whole universe doesn't revolve around her, and that there are more important things in life than her feelings."

Esther had relaxed slightly, and once more she managed a smile for Harm's benefit, "I know, I know, Harm. Anyone seeing you and Mattie together can see the love between you, and you are a wonderful father to her, but… you do need to unbend that stiff navy neck just a little bit more!"

What Harm might have been said went unheard as Catherine interrupted the talk with "Speak of the devil and she's bound to appear!"

Harm turned to face the door and saw a fresh, but pale-faced Mattie standing in the doorway and smiling uncertainly. She had also, Harm noticed with a wry grin, seized the opportunity to unbind her hair from the braid which Catherine had painstakingly fixed for her that morning.

"Esther…" she said falteringly, "I'm sorry… so sorry… I didn't mean…"

"Oh, hush, child, hush! Everyone needs a good cry now and then!" Esther affirmed, her head tilted in Mattie's direction, "Come and sit by me again! And you," she turned her again sparklingly bright eyes on Harm and winked, "Move your great big carcass and make room for a little one!"

Harm chuckled and retreated to the safety of the bedside chair, while Mattie with a still somewhat tentative smile, nodded her thanks and slipped once more into the circle of Esther's comforting arm.

Harm and Catherine, ably supported by Mattie, managed to keep the conversation light and cheerful for the reminder of the visit, which Harm, keeping a careful eye on Esther brought to a close after another twenty minutes or so.

xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx

The late lunch at Woodford Road was a quiet affair as each of them silently acknowledged and struggled to come to terms with Esther's deteriorating condition; Mattie eventually gathering together her plate and mug before putting them on the worktop next to the sink, saying "Well, I got to go log on; the Dragon Lady said she was going to post today's test on-line for me to complete before the end of school today!"

Harm and Catherine looked at each other as Mattie left the room. Both knew an excuse when they heard it, but both also recognised the teenager's need for privacy.

Slowly during the afternoon, run of the mill chores and the necessity of taking care of Beth's needs allowed a semblance of normality to settle over the household, and it wasn't until Harm and Catherine had settled Beth for the night and slipped into the comfort of their own bed, that Catherine raised the subject of Esther's condition.

"She's getting worse, isn't she, Harm?" Catherine asked as she wormed her way into Harm's embrace, her head resting on his chest.

Harm didn't even try to pretend not knowing about what and whom Catherine was talking, "Yes, I'm afraid she is, sweetheart," he said slowly, "but she's had bad spells before and pulled through. Doctor Alison looks after her like she was her own mother; she'll make sure everything's done that can be done. You'll see, your mom will still dance at our wedding!"

"And what if she doesn't, Harm? What if she doesn't?" Catherine burst into tears, soaking Harm's t-shirt where her head lay on it.

"Hush, sweetheart, hush. Esther will be fine, you'll see. In a couple of weeks she'll be laughing at us for being worried about her!" But even as he spoke and gently rocked Catherine in his arms Harm wondered to whom he was lying; Catherine or himself.

Catherine suddenly broke free of his hold and rearing above him she knelt on the bed for an instant as she tore her nightshirt off over her head, before she crashed down on him again, capturing his head in her hands and mashing her lips against his, her tongue invading his mouth. "Oh, Harm, make love to me, make me stop worrying, make love to me now!"

Since Catherine had been given the all-clear by her Doctor, Harm had been surprised and delighted by the exuberance and fervour with which, even with her fatigue, she accepted his bedtime approaches and wasn't at all shy about taking the initiative. But this… this was all wrong… it was for all the wrong reasons…

Taking her shoulders gently in his hands, he flipped her over onto her back and dropped a soft kiss onto her forehead, "No, Catherine, not now, not like this…"

For a second Catherine went rigid under his touch and Harm thought she was about to scream at him, but instead she went as limp as a rag doll and burst into tears again. Harm took her in his arms once more and rocked her as she cried herself to sleep.

xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx

Subsequent visits to Esther failed to reveal any improvement in her condition, and once again Harm saw that despite her best efforts to put on a cheerful front for her visitors, she was become more tired. Weaker and her skin seemed to be drier, more parchment like and transparent. A conversation with Alison Cameron, which he had kept from Catherine and Mattie, had done nothing to reassure him, "I'm sorry, Harm," the petite brunette had said, "there's nothing more we can do except palliative care, by the time Esther went to see her doctor she was already too weak for corrective surgery," Alison smiled sympathetically, she had conceived a real affection and admiration for her patient, and a genuine liking for her family, "I'll keep a very careful eye on her, of course, and we'll try increasing some of her meds to ease the strain on her heart, but there will come a time when nothing that we do will be of any further help to her." Alison frowned, "I'm not even sure we'll move her to ITU. It won't help her," she continued hastily as she saw thunderclouds gathering on Harm's face, "And it might even hurt her by scaring her. Harm, I know this is hard for you, and I really wish I had better news for you, but…" she spread her hands helplessly.

Harm nodded, fighting to keep his emotions under control, "It's going to be worse for Catherine… and oh God, Mattie… she idolises Esther, and so soon after losing her own mother, she's going to be devastated. Is there really nothing you can do, Alison?"

Alison Cameron shook her head sadly, "Sorry, Harm, no…"

xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx

The departure of Faith Coleman to her new billet and the subsequent cessation of Frank McBurney's twice weekly visits did much to lower the tension in the SecNav's legal office but although Harm did his best to not to allow his personal life and the impending tragedy to impinge on his professional life, and although less tired these days as Beth's overnight demands decreased, the worry over Esther's health more than took up that slack and he found himself becoming less tolerant and more irritable with his staff.

Harm had not discussed Esther's situation with anyone at work, but his increasingly frequent absences from the office and snippets of overheard telephone conversations were sufficient for his staff of attorneys to piece together enough evidence to come up with a reasonably close version of what was happening. It was what they did; they were professionals and they were good at their job.

Jennifer, of course, by virtue of her continuing friendship with Mattie was in possession of many more facts and much fuller information than either Lydia Bellingham or Mike Sheddan and so when Lydia had just about decided on a second intervention she was stopped by Jen Coates. "I'll speak to him, ma'am, if you don't mind."

Lydia looked at the Legalman doubtfully, "I don't know, Coates. It seems it would be better if he was approached by someone nearer to him in rank…"

Jen smiled apologetically, "With respect ma'am, I've known him a lot longer than you have, I'm friends with his ward and I think I know more about what's going on at the moment. I've seen him trying and failing to cope with personal tragedy before… and besides, you've got more to lose than I have, he's already written my fitrep for this year!"

Lydia couldn't help but smile at Jen's final argument, but it was with grave doubts that she gave the go-ahead.

Jen knocked on Harm's office door and waited for the command to enter. Doing so, she crossed the expanse of carpet and halted in front his desk, "Do you have a couple of minutes to spare, sir?"

Harm looked across at her and read the concerned expression on her face, "Is this work or personal, Coates?"

"Personal, sir. But it is affecting work, sir"

"You'd best take a seat then, Jennifer," Harm sighed, wondering what bombshell the young woman was about to burst on him. Was she going to tell him of her impending marriage, or that she had managed to get herself pregnant and that the father had bailed on her? Or perhaps Mattie had done something stupid and Jennifer was coming to tell him about it?"

"I'm worried about you, sir, in fact we're all worried about you…" her vague gesture included the outer offices and possibly even other areas of the DoN.

"How do you mean, Coates?" Harm stiffened instinctively.

"Sir, It's pretty obvious these past weeks that something's bothering you. You never lose your… well, you hardly ever lose your temper at work, and when you do, it's usually because it's something that's bothering you that you can't fix. Commander Bellingham and Major Sheddan have pretty much guessed what's happening with Mrs Gale… and, well, I know a fair bit of what's going on..."

"And how do you know that, Coates?" Harm demanded, interrupting her, "have you been listening in on my telephone calls, my _private_ telephone calls?"

"No sir! Of course not!" Jennifer was horrified and hurt by the suggestion and let slip something that she hadn't meant to, "I am Mattie's friend," she reminded Harm, "and she tells me things, offloading stuff that's bothering her that she can't talk to you or Miss Gale about!"

Harm took a deep breath, "No, of course you don't listen in, Jennifer, I apologise for that remark. I do know you wouldn't do that, and I shouldn't have asked! But Miss Grace and I _are_ going to have a discussion about her indiscretions!"

"Oh, don't do that sir, please. If you do, then Mattie will know that I let it slip and then it's almost certain she'll never confide in me again, and there may come a time when she'll really need to!"

Harm took in the almost begging expression on Jen's face and relented, "Alright, Jennifer, I won't tackle her on this – this time! But leaving aside the question of Mattie, do you think that my Legalman has any right to come in here and bug me with questions about my personal life?"

"No, sir… Maybe not, but not so long ago, you called me your friend, and maybe sir, your friend does have the right to be concerned about her friend?"

Unconsciously echoing Admiral Chegwidden, Harm frowned, "Jennifer, are you taking law classes?"

"No, sir! Still sticking to the psychology course!"

Harm studied her again, "Dammit, you are too! You just talked me into a better mood, as well as delivered a wake-up call! OK, I'll try not to bite anyone's head off for the rest of the week!"

Jen smiled, "Then my work here is done!" She rose to her feet, "If you'll excuse me, sir?"

"Go on," Harm smiled, his first real smile in days, "Git!"

That was one conversation the details of which he shamefacedly shared with Catherine.

xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx

The following Saturday Harm, Catherine and Mattie's visit to Kresge found Donnie and Chrissie already at Esther's bedside. Donnie looked strained while Chrissie looked on the verge of tears and Esther looked exhausted and frailer than ever.

Their greetings, affected by the tension in the room, were subdued and they had barely arranged themselves around the room, Harm having borrowed two more chairs from an empty room, when Donnie thrust a sheet of paper in Catherine's direction.

"Here read this!" he snapped, his voice thickened with emotion.

Catherine took the paper and started to read, but after only a few seconds, her eyes filled with tears, and a choked, "Mom!" burst out of her lips.

Harm reached for the document, already half-knowing what it was, and took it from Catherine's suddenly nerveless fingers. While Mattie burst out, "What? What is it? What's wrong?"

"It's my living will…" Esther breathed, her voice barely audible, "I asked the hospital attorney to do it for me… No heroic measures… I told 'em…"

Donnie stood, "I can't listen to this crap again!" he said, "C'mon Chrissie, let's get a coffee or… or… something. Harm, Catherine" he begged, "You're attorneys, can't you find something wrong with it? Or get a court order, or an injunction, or something? Or at least talk her out of it!"

Chrissie took a frightened look at Esther who now seemed to have trouble breathing, and then looked again at Donnie, "Come on, honey. Let's go get that coffee and get your blood pressure back under control. Besides, you're not doing Esther any good!" and she gently shepherded Donnie out of the room receiving a grateful look from Harm as she did so.

Once peace was restored to the room, Catherine slid on to the edge of Esther's bed, "Mom, you can't mean this, surely?"

Esther opened her eyes, which she had closed as Donnie and Chrissie quit the room, "Oh, I do, darling. I mean every word of it. So don't try and… talk me out of it… Donnie's just the last to try… I had the attorney, the hospital administrator… Even Nurse Brigid…"

"Alright Esther, we won't try…" Harm assured her, waving an agitated Mattie to silence, and shooting a warning look at Catherine who returned his look with a tear-filled glare, but grudgingly nodded her head.

"Alright, mom… we won't try… but that doesn't mean we like it… or won't ask why! So why, Mom? Why are you giving up now?"

"Oh, Catherine, sweetheart, it's not me that's giving up; it's my heart that's giving up on me! I'm old, Catherine, I'm ill, we all know I'm dying…"

Mattie's furious "No!" went unheeded as Harm and Catherine concentrated on Esther's reedy voice.

"I don't want to go, Catherine, I want to dance at your wedding, I want to see Beth take her first steps and hear her call me Grandma, I want to dance at Donnie's wedding too. But I'm not going to get my druthers… not this time 'round…" Esther's voice faded into silence, but before Catherine or Harm could find words, she took another breath, "I'm tired Catherine, so unbelievably tired, and my body tells me I need to go, and sweetheart you and Donnie and all of you, you need to let me go. And besides, I believe in the Lord, and I believe him when he promises us an after-life. I'm not scared, I think I've led a Christian life, and I miss your dad, Catherine; I have missed him every day since he passed on. And now I'm going to be reunited with him, so… don't… think of it as me… leaving you… just think of it as me… going on ahead… waiting until you get ready to go… getting everything ready for you… your dad and I looking out for you…"

"You've always done that, Mom," Catherine wept silently, as she clung to Esther's hand while Harm took an equally tearful and bewildered Mattie into a comforting hug.

"There's just one thing more… I need you to promise me, Catherine… you too, Harm… I'm not going to be here for April… so I need you to promise me that you'll go ahead with the wedding… just as you planned… Don't postpone anything just because I'm gone…"

"Mom! We couldn't…"

"Promise me, Catherine! Promise me that!" Esther said fiercely, "I won't be able to rest easy otherwise!"

"OK, Mom, I promise. We'll go ahead with the wedding as planned…" Catherine said.

Esther relaxed back against the pillows, "Good, I've already got Donnie and Chrissie's promise… I won't be there to see it, but I'll rest easy… knowing that you two are finally settled down… Harm, you will look after them, Catherine, Mattie and Beth?" Her eyelids fluttered closed and her breathing settled, her chest gently rising and falling.

"Of course I will, Esther," Harm said softly, and then sat silently, still holding Mattie close to him, as Catherine raised her mom's hand to her lips and gently kissed it, and then reaching into her purse for a Kleenex she blotted her eyes and said shakily, "Mattie, how about you show me where that handy bathroom is?"

The family, including Donnie and Chrissie were sombre that evening. Dinner was an almost silent meal, and with the weight of the afternoon pressing on them, nobody was late to bed. And again Harm held the softly weeping Catherine as she slipped into sleep, finally leaving him free to indulge in his own silent tears which he had been fighting all afternoon and evening.

xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday saw Esther slipping ever further away, and the three members of the little family took to eating, sleeping, working and even showering with their cell 'phones never out of reach.

Monday had seen Esther's nasal cannula replaced by a mask in effort to deliver more oxygen to her system, while on Tuesday she was once again hooked up to a monitor, her heart beat, blood pressure and oxygen saturation level under constant watch. She had been conscious for the visit on Monday and had seemingly rallied, her eyes full of mischief once more, as she teased Mattie about a boy at school that the teenager had been incautious enough to mention. But on Tuesday she had been semi-conscious at best and barely aware of her visitors.

The 'phone call in the early hours of Wednesday morning came as no surprise to Harm, he had barely managed a light doze as he anticipated the summons to Esther's bedside. Swiftly and as quietly as he could he told Catherine, who had awakened as soon as the 'phone started to ring, "It's Alison, Catherine. We need to get to the hospital, now!"

Catherine nodded wordlessly, but her heart was in her eyes as, like Harm, she hastily dressed in jeans and a sweat shirt, stuffed her feet into loafers and started to wrap a half awake and grizzling Beth into a couple of extra blankets and strap her into her porta crib.

As quick and as quiet as they had been, they were neither quick enough nor quiet enough to avoid Mattie who dressed in a sweater and jogging bottoms met them on the second floor landing, a scrunchie held between her teeth as she twisted her hair into a pony-tail.

"Mats," Harm said gently, "I don't think it's such a good idea, coming with us…"

Mattie turned on him, her red-head temper rising rapidly to the surface, "Harmon Rabb, Esther has been a second grandmother and even a second mom to me, she accepted and loved me, and I love her, and if you think for even one second, that I'm going to bail on her at the last minute, then you are a hell of a lot dumber than anyone ever thought you were!"

Harm blinked, "Mats, sweetheart, it's going to be hard…"

Mattie cut him off again, "I couldn't be there for my Mom, but I can and I will be there for Esther! And if you won't take me, I'll get a cab, or take Catherine's car!"

Harm, despite his misgivings felt his heart fill with pride at Mattie's words, and he caved in, "Alright Mattie Grace, grab your jacket and put some shoes on your feet. Meet us downstairs in five minutes, or we're going without you!"

The delay was caused by Catherine grabbing three bottles of her milk from the fridge, the bottle warmer and her breast pump and stuffing them into the diaper bag. Mattie was waiting for them in the hallway and with an impatient, "C'mon, people, let's go!" she was out of the door and halfway to the Lexus before Harm had picked up the car keys.

Esther's room was dimly lit, but there was sufficient light for them to see her eyes open as they entered and a smile cross her face as she mouthed, "Thank you" behind her oxygen mask. Harm pulled up a chair for himself and Catherine, while Mattie took her normal perch on the side of the bed, clutching Esther's hand fiercely in her own, while Catherine, after gently kissing her mother's forehead, held her other hand, occasionally brushing Esther's fine hair away from her forehead.

Time passed so slowly that Harm was sure it was hours before the door opened to admit Donnie and Chrissie, but checking his watch he found to his surprise that it was only an hour and twenty minutes since he'd been jerked out of his doze.

Once again Esther seemed to sense the arrival of one of her children, and again her eyes opened briefly and again she managed a brief gentle smile, before tiredness overtook her again. Mattie grudgingly made room for Donnie and Chrissie to kiss Esther's forehead and cheek, and then was gratefully pleased when Donnie stood back and said, "Sit down again, Mattie… I… I know what you two mean to each other." He hurried out of the room and came back with two more chairs which he placed on Catherine's side of the bed, taking the one next to Catherine for himself, while Chrissie slipped onto the third while Donnie offered support and physical comfort to both sister and fiancée.

No-one was in the mood for talk as they sat vigil in a silence broken only by the intrusion of a nurse to check Esther's vital signs and the regular beeping of the machines recording those signs, until at last the machine's monotonous note ceased for an instant and then became a long single note as the on screen peaks and valleys that showed Esther's heart beat became a single continuous, flat line and the various figures rapidly unwound to read zero.

Mattie looked up in alarm and twisted her head to see the display, and then turned back towards Harm, "What does… does that… She's gone, Harm, hasn't she? She's gone!" Mattie demanded.

Harm nodded sadly, "Yes, Mattie, she's gone on ahead, just like she said she would."

"Oh, Esther, I'm going to miss you so much!" Mattie said in a surprisingly calm and controlled voice, and then stood, bending to place one last kiss on the old lady's forehead. "I'll see you outside, guys," she said, "Give you a chance to say your goodbyes." And with silent tears streaming down her face she walked quietly and with dignity to the door, opening it just in time to allow Alison Cameron to enter.

"I think you're a bit too late, Doctor," the teenager said bitterly.


	31. Chapter 31

**31**

Harm was appalled at Mattie's behaviour towards Alison Cameron, and was torn between an urge to go after her and make her apologise to the doctor, and his need to be with Catherine, who had let go of Esther's hand and who was hunched over Beth, rocking back and forth as she wept silently, while Donnie and Chrissie had their arms around each other, their faces buried in each other's shoulder as they both gave and received comfort.

The need to look after Catherine won and swiftly crossing the room, he dropped to one knee next to Catherine's chair and gently looped both arms around her shoulders, gently offering his shoulder to her, and offering comfort to their daughter who seemed to sense the raw emotions in the room and had started to whimper.

Alison waited silently until the first storm of reaction to Esther's death eased and then gently suggested that they leave the nursing staff to prepare Esther for her journey to the mortuary, mentioning that if they felt the need, the hospital chapel was always open.

Donnie, Chrissie and Catherine looked at each other and when Donnie said in strained, tight voice, "Chapel?" the two women nodded their assent.

Harm nodded and said gravely, I'll be with you in a minute, and then waiting until they had passed out of earshot, he turned to Alison Cameron, "I'm so sorry about Mattie, he began. "She was way out of line…"

But was interrupted by Alison's grasp of his arm as she shook her head and said, "No, leave it Harm. She didn't mean that. She's hurt and lashing out, it's a normal step in the grieving process, and besides," Alison's lips twitched in a grave smile, "I've had a lot worse things than that said to me over the years. It comes with the territory."

"Are you really alright with that?" Harm asked incredulously.

"Alright? No… not really, but I do understand it, Harm." Alison hesitated before she continued, "Don't make a big deal out of this Harm, for Mattie's sake. She's upset and hurt, and she'll probably be ashamed of herself when she's calmer. The last thing she needs right now is you censuring her and laying a load of guilt on top of the load she's trying to cope with right now."

"And what of the load that Catherine's carrying?" Harm demanded, "Hasn't she got enough to cope with without worrying about a teenage tantrum?"

Alison nodded, "She has, and she will need you and all the support you can give her to help her get through this. Concentrate on helping Catherine… and on helping Mattie too. You may be mad at her right now, but she needs you as much as Catherine does!"

Harm nodded, recognising the truth in her words, "Yes, you're right of course, I… I'd best go find her… I don't know how long we'll be in the chapel…"

Alison shook her head, "No… go along with Catherine and her brother… I'll get security to look for her on CCTV, and then once we've got a fix on her, I'll get someone to tell you where she is…"

Harm nodded again, "Thanks, Alison and I am truly sorry that she spoke to you like that…"

"You have nothing to blame yourself for Harm, so no apology needed."

"But, I should have…"

"You can't take the blame for everything Harm, so stop beating yourself up. This was not your fault…" Alison held up an admonishing hand as she saw him about to speak, "No! Enough is enough. Go to the chapel, Harm; go, be with Catherine and your child!"

Harm sat beside Catherine, who was still cradling Beth in her arms, she had stopped sobbing, but every few minutes a stray tear would roll down her cheeks. Harm looped a gentle arm around her shoulders, and Catherine surrendered to his familiar embrace, letting her head droop against his shoulder. They stayed where they were for about twenty minutes, each taking a measure of comfort from the other's presence, before a nurse in scrubs entered the chapel and dropped to one knee by the side of their pew.

"Commander Rabb?" she queried, and when Harm nodded she continued, "We've located Miss Grace, she's on a bench just outside the main doors. We've asked her to come in, but she just sits there, she doesn't move and she won't answer."

Harm heaved a sigh, "Thank you, nurse," he said and turned his head towards Catherine.

"Come, on Harm we'd best get going," she said in a low voice… "There's so much to be done, so much to be decided… I need to sit down with Donnie and decide who's going to do what… what we're going to do about Mom's condo… all her stuff to be gone through… all her papers… and her…. her… f… f… funeral… Oh, Harm!" Catherine's voice nearly broke again as she wailed Harm's name, disturbing Beth who squirmed in her mother's arms and started to cry.

Diverted for the moment from her grief, Catherine reacted to her baby's needs and within a few moments had not only calmed down Beth, but had regained some measure of control over herself, and when she spoke next, it was with barely a quaver in her voice, "Donnie, Chrissie, we're heading on back to the house now. You are staying over with us?"

Donnie looked troubled, "I don't know that we should Cathy-Cat," he said, reverting to her childhood nickname, "With everything that's going on, and with the baby and all…"

"Don't even think of getting a room, Donnie, nor of driving back to Baltimore before you're rested up!" Harm cautioned him. "Of course you're staying over with us. Apart from anything else, you and Catherine have a got a whole mess of stuff to sort out between you!"

Chrissie and Donnie looked at each other a silent message passing between them, and then nodded, "OK, we'll stay," Donnie reluctantly agreed, "but only because we're too tired to argue with you!"

Harm stepped up to Donnie, and clapped him on the shoulder, "Good man!" he said softly, "I have feeling that Catherine needs you to be with us tonight!"

It was only when they'd left the chapel that Catherine realised she had left Beth's porta-crib in Esther's room, and her purse with it. Picking up the pace, she and Harm headed back to the room, only to be met half-way by Mattie, carrying both porta-crib and purse.

The teenager saw them approaching and stopped, nervously waiting for Harm to rip her a new one for running off the way she had. But Harm took in the cold, pinched look on Mattie's face, as well as her red-rimmed eyes and tear-streaked cheeks and felt what was left of his anger die away. He would speak to Mattie about her behaviour, but for the moment, he kept one arm around Catherine's waist and opened his other arm, saying simply, "Mats?"

Mattie still stood a few feet away, and hefted the porta-crib, "I… I went back to… to… Esth… to Esth… to the room, and you weren't there… I asked a nurse and she said that you'd gone to the chapel… and then I saw… these…"

"It's OK, Mats, we understand. We can sort all that out later, OK?"Catherine interrupted with a pleading glance at Harm, which went totally unseen as he agreed, "Yeah, but we need you here right now?" He opened his arm again and this time Mattie gave a gulping sob, dropped the porta-crib and threw herself against his chest her arms going around of much of Harm and Catherine as she could reach, while she buried her face against his sweatshirt, and sobbed, "I'm sorry, so sorry!"

xxxi-xxxi-xxxi-xxxi-xxxi

A combination of fatigue and fraught emotions meant that by the time the two cars had made it back to Woodford Road, nobody was in a fit state to do anything other than collapse into bed. Everybody but one, that is. Elizabeth Rabb remained sublimely indifferent to the needs and wants of the big people surrounding her, all she knew was that she was wet, dirty, smelly, uncomfortable and hungry.

Harm and Catherine dealt with their daughter's demands by functioning as automatons, Catherine finally falling asleep with the freshly bathed, changed and powdered Beth at her breast, neither of them making so much as a whisper as Harm lifted his daughter out of Catherine's arms and placed her in her bassinet. As he did so he saw that the black of night was turning to the grey of dawn and with a muttered curse he checked his watch, nearly oh seven hundred hours.

A brutally honest self-appraisal told him that he was in no fit state to work, and more than that, Catherine would need him by her side when she awoke. Not liking what he had to do next, he checked through his list of contacts on his cell 'phone and dialled the number for which he was reluctantly looking. He was soon answered by a bright voice on a recording, "_Hi, you have reached Jen an' Lynne; we can't get to the 'phone right now. So you know what to do when you hear the bleep_."

Harm waited until he heard the 'bleep', "Coates, this is Commander Rabb, if you're there, please…"

"_Good morning, sir! This is Barker. Jen… uh… Coates is in the shower right now. Hold on and I'll get her for you!_"

Harm waited a couple of minutes, and then heard the mumble of voices getting louder as they neared the 'phone and then, "_Good morning, sir! Coates here_!"

"Morning, Jennifer. Look, we've had a bit of a bad night, so I'm not coming in today. Please let the SecNav know, and that I'll call him this afternoon with a full explanation."

Jen, who had been well aware of Mattie's disappointment over the court ruling, asked quickly, "_It's not Mattie, is it sir?"_

Harm was too tired and drained to prevaricate further, "No, Jennifer, he said heavily, "It's not Mattie. Catherine's mother, Mrs Gale, died at just past oh five twenty hours this morning."

Harm heard Jen's quick gasp before she spoke, her voice grave, but somehow conveying her real sympathy, "_Oh, sir. I am so sorry to hear that…"_

"Thank you, Jennifer. You can tell the SecNav that if you would. But please don't mention it to anyone else just yet. And make me an appointment to see the SecNav at oh eight thirty hours tomorrow please."

"_Aye, aye, sir! And sir_?"

"Yes?"

"Please let Miss Gale and Mattie know that I am truly sorry for their loss."

"Yes. Thank you Jennifer, I will. Oh, Jennifer!" An afterthought struck Harm, "When you get into work, can you also place a call to Miss Gale's secretary at Langley and let her know that Miss Gale won't be in today either. Just tell her it's a family emergency, I'm sure she'll be able to put two and two together!"

Once again Jen responded with a crisp, "_Aye, aye, sir!"_

Harm put the 'phone down with a sigh, and rolled onto his back, his eyes slammed shut and he was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

xxxi-xxxi-xxxi-xxxi-xxxi

The family slept through the morning, except Harm and Catherine who were awoken by Beth's demands for attention, so it was a still groggily tired Harm who in the early afternoon roused the other occupants of the house, and while he and Mattie concentrated on providing food and copious amounts of strong coffee, Catherine, Donnie and Chrissie hammered out who was to do what in respect of Esther's belongings, her condo and last, but not least, her funeral.

In the end it was decided that Donnie would take care of the funeral, Catherine would oversee the placing of Esther's condo on the market while they would all descend on the condo on Saturday morning and clear it of Esther's personal belongings. Mattie went white at the prospect, but nobody relished the thought of going through Esther's effects, "Rummaging through her life!" Mattie said in disgust. Harm eyed her anxiously, Mattie was, as he'd expected, taking Esther's death hard, very hard, and he worried about how long and how intensely the teenager would mourn. Freshly reddened eyes told anyone who cared to pay attention that Mattie had had at least one more tear-storm since returning from Kresge.

The following day saw Donnie and Chrissie head back to Baltimore, both had bosses who although sympathetic to their loss, still had businesses to run. Harm reluctantly headed back to the Pentagon, where he was met in the outer office by Jen, who greeted him with a quiet but pleasant, "Good morning, sir. How are you, Miss Gale and Mattie doing?"

"We'll make it, thank you Coates. Mattie's taking it hard, but she's young, and she adored Mrs Gale."

"Yes, sir. I know," Jen replied sombrely. "If there's anything I can do to help her… or any of you…?"

"Nothing at the moment, Jennifer. But thank you. I'll certainly keep your offer in mind. Now," his tone became brisker, "Did you get me a spot with the SecNav?"

"Yes, sir. He said for you to go straight to see him when you got in."

"He's in already?" Harm asked in mild surprise.

"Yes, sir, got in about twenty minutes ago."

xxxi-xxxi-xxxi-xxxi-xxxi

Harm entered the SecNav's office and walked across the carpet to halt in front of the desk. Secretary Sheffield looked him up and down. To him, Rabb looked as if he was almost asleep on his feet, his eyes red-rimmed and his face drawn.

"Sit down, Commander," SecNav said, privately tacking on the thought 'before you fall down', but continuing, "Petty Officer Coates passed me your message, of course," Sheffield hesitated, "And I am sorry that your family has had such a loss, particularly so soon after your daughter's birth."

"Thank you, Mister Secretary," Harm replied.

"Normally I would, under these sort of circumstances, say that if there was anything I could do… but as you requested this interview, I take it there is something that you want?"

"Yes, Mister Secretary, I would like to take emergency leave until next week, when the funeral is done… I don't know exactly when that will be, but it was a natural death in hospital, so I don't anticipate an autopsy and its associated delay…"

"Of course! Take as much time as you need. This place won't fall apart without you." Sheffield paused again and sighed, "I seem to recall saying pretty much the same to you not so long ago."

Harm nodded, remembering all too well exactly what the SecNav had said to him, and how, in retrospect, that comment was now savagely ironic. "Thank you, Mister Secretary," Harm said getting to his feet. "I'll let my people know, and let Commander Bellingham know that she's the person you'll be going to if need be."

"You're leaving her in charge during your absence?" Sheffield wasn't querying Rabb's decision, but was seeking conformation in the light of Harm's elliptical comment.

"Yes, Mister Secretary. She has seniority."

"Very well, Commander!" Sheffield hesitated again and when he spoke Harm nearly fell through the floor, "I am truly sorry for your loss, Harm. Take all the time you need, but keep me in the loop, please. So, if I don't hear from you beforehand, I'll expect to see you back here on Monday week, OK?"

"Yes, Mister Secretary. Thank you."

xxxi-xxxi-xxxi-xxxi-xxxi

The next few days were difficult for everyone except Beth who remained indifferent to what was going on around her. Catherine had also taken family leave and made an effort to appear as if everything was right with her world, but on more than one occasion Harm had entered a room to find her paused in whatever task she was doing to stare blindly into the middle distance.

Mattie, much to Catherine's and Harm's surprise had woken that morning at her usual time, and having swallowed a hasty breakfast grabbed her book-bag and made a dash to catch the school bus, explaining, "You don't need me underfoot all day when you have so much to do, so I'll get out of your hair!" Her only action betraying her feelings were the tight hugs she bestowed on both Harm and Catherine before she almost ran out of the door.

That first afternoon Harm and Catherine had gone over to Esther's condominium in McLean and had emptied her desk, bundling its contents, and taking it all back to Vienna. From then on it seemed to Harm that he saw very little of Catherine for the rest of the week. He took over most of the routine household chores while she, with the exception of feeding and looking after Beth, virtually barricaded herself into the den while she worked her way through the mass of paperwork, dealing with Esther's bank and savings accounts, her solicitor, pension funds and social services.

On the surface Mattie appeared to have taken Esther's loss with equanimity, but on her return from school she would retreat to her room, and for two days declined to come to dinner, saying that she wasn't hungry. The discovery that all she'd had for breakfast was a mug of coffee, and apparently hadn't taken a lunch with her brought worried frowns to both Harm and Catherine's faces. It had taken Jen Coates to break through the teenager's armour. Jen had arrived on Friday evening, to collect Mattie for a scheduled sleepover at the Georgetown apartment, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened that week, and in a calculated act that at first sight seemed cruel had chosen 'Driving Miss Daisy' as the evening's film entertainment.

The effect had been spectacularly cathartic, if tiring. Mattie had spent practically the whole night curled up on the couch crying in Jen's arms, leaving them both tired, but with some measure of peace restored to Mattie's soul, as the teenager had finally allowed herself to mourn openly. Jen had dropped Mattie off at the McLean condo, as arranged, and the teenager was able to bear her part in the packing of Esther's belongings with a seemingly good grace, although she, like Catherine and Chrissie become more silent and grave as the day wore on.

As the evening fell the five of them stood in the middle of the lounge, the last box had been loaded into the cars and all that remained were the items of furniture that were too big or would just add unnecessary clutter. Some items were destined for storage until such time as Donnie and Chrissie found a home, the rest would wait until the following week when a company specialising in house clearance would take the rest and sell it at auction on behalf of the family.

Esther's will was simplicity itself. There was only one side bequest, a five-figure sum to be used as the basis for a college fund in the name of Matilda Grace. Everything else, once expenses had been paid, including the proceeds from the sale of the condominium was to be divided equally between Donnie and Catherine.

xxxi-xxxi-xxxi-xxxi-xxxi

While Catherine had been ploughing through Esther's correspondence, Donnie too had been had been busy, organising Esther's funeral which was to take place on Monday at eleven hundred hours at the Baptist cemetery on North Glebe Road, Arlington.

The working weekend and the Monday funeral meant that Donnie and Chrissie had stayed the weekend at Vienna and with the best will in the world two women, even well-disposed to each but who were almost total strangers, found it difficult being under the same roof, and Catherine confided her relief on Monday morning as they dressed, "I think I'm going to love Chrissie," she'd said with a wry grin as she slipped into her dress and turned her back to Harm, "Zip me up, please, but I'm going to be so glad when they've gone back to Baltimore!"

"A serpent in paradise, Catherine?" Harm asked as he fastened the little hook and eye at the neckline of Catherine's long-sleeved black dress, and as was customary each time he performed that service for her, planted a soft kiss on the nape of her neck.

"No… I wouldn't go that far…" Catherine said thoughtfully, "It's dumb, I know… but she's got different ways of doing things… for instance, she washes up things in a different order than I do… and she drapes the dish-towel over the front of the sink, instead of putting it on the towel rack… Like I said, dumb things, that shouldn't amount to a hill of beans… and it's probably some dumb female ascendancy thing, but it's my home, and seeing another woman making herself at home is just wrong on so many levels!"

Harm paused one foot on the edge of the bedroom chair as he tied his shoe-laces, "But… we told them to make themselves at home!" he exclaimed.

"Ohhh! I know we did!" Catherine fumed, "And that's what makes it so impossible! I can't complain when I told her to go ahead and treat this house as if it were her own… but it's difficult not to turn around and say… Oh, we do 'X' like 'Y' here!" She caught the perplexed look in Harm's eye and shrugged, giving an embarrassed half-laugh, "I said it was dumb!"

Harm shook his head in bafflement, "Yeah, you did," he said, earning himself a mega-watt glare from his fiancée.

Recognising his _faux-pas_, Harm made an effort to regain the ground he had just lost, "Let me have a look at you…."

Catherine stood still for a few moments, relishing his look of appreciation, swiftly followed by his "Damn! You look so good…" and a full blown smile.

Yes, she was still mad at Harm for agreeing with her, but the love and admiration in his eyes allayed, as it always did, her flash of ill-temper. "Damn you, Harmon Rabb!" she said without rancour, as she walked towards him, "One day that smile of yours is not going to get you out of trouble!"

"Oh, it's worse than that, sweetheart," he grinned, "It's actually gotten me into more trouble than it ever got me out of!"

"Why don't I have any trouble believing that?" she said softly through her smile, as she reached up and gently kissed him.

"I don't know…" he sighed mournfully, looking again for all the world like a whipped puppy.

"Oh no, sailor! I ain't falling for that look! Come on, let's see if the rest of 'em are nearly ready!"

The rest of the party were ready and waiting for Harm and Catherine in the lounge. Donnie, as was Harm, was dressed in a freshly cleaned and pressed dark suit, while both Chrissie and Mattie wore black dresses and dark panty-hose, Mattie for once not making a fuss, apart from an initial protest, about wearing a dress once Catherine had said, "To show respect for Esther." The dress in question was severely cut of funereal black with a high neckline, long sleeve and a knee length skirt, escaping Mattie's criticism of it being 'too girly', and on this occasion it was embellished with a small, oval silver brooch with a black stone at its centre, which Catherine said was jet, and had been chosen by her for Mattie from the contents of Esther's jewel box.

The service was a simple one, the only other attendees being Harriet and Bud Roberts and Alison Cameron, her presence however, was unwelcome to at least one member of the party.

"What's _she_ doing here?" Mattie hissed to Catherine as soon as she identified the doctor, who in her mind had allowed Esther to die without lifting a finger to save her. Harm's attempts to explain the reality of Esther's final days had fallen on deaf teenage ears, and Mattie's attitude towards Alison was made perfectly clear to all when she not only refused to greet her when she came forward to offer her condolences to the family, but also when Mattie turned her back on Alison and walked away, leaving an angered and embarrassed Harm glaring after her. He was once again torn between the need to remain civil and retain a suitable degree of decorum and the strong desire to grab hold of Mattie and find a secluded spot so that he could give her the spanking that her brattish behaviour deserved.

As she did so, she almost literally walked into the arms of Jennifer Coates, who had abandoned her uniform for the day and like the other women present wore a simple black dress of sober design.

Jen put out a hand to steady her young friend as Mattie stumbled, "Hey, Mats, what's up?"

Mattie dashed the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand, "It's that damned doctor!" she said between gritted teeth. "She just stood back and let Esther die, and now she's here oozing false sympathy all over Harm!"

Jen winced, she had absorbed enough of her psychology course to realise that there were several factors affecting Mattie's behaviour. Firstly there was genuine grief at Esther's death accompanied by a deep sense of loss, secondly there was honest resentment at what Mattie saw as Alison Cameron's failure in her duty, but there was also insecurity inspired jealousy that might well have roots in Mattie's uncertain circumstances. With Tom Johnson's parental rights terminated, all Mattie had in the wold was Harm, Catherine and Beth. Now the court had refused their petition to adopt her, and could if it so decided rescind their guardianship, a situation that wouldn't change until Harm and Catherine were married and could re-petition the court, but they weren't married yet, and the slight friendship that had sprung up between Harm and Alison Cameron was seen, perhaps subconsciously, by the teenager as a threat to Ham and Catherine's relationship.

Jen heaved an inward sigh, this was not the ideal place or time, but she had seen the expression on Harm's face, the only time she had seen him look that blazingly mad was at Petty Officer Moritz when the attorney had found out that his client had lied to him.

Jen cast a quick look at her watch; by her reckoning they still had ten minutes before the service was to start, "Walk with me for a few minutes, please, Mats?" she suggested, and Mattie nothing loath to escape from the immediate vicinity of Alison Cameron nodded in agreement.

Jen led Mattie on a slow stroll through the church grounds towards the cemetery itself, "It's so peaceful here, so beautiful," she breathed.

"I guess," Mattie grudgingly admitted as she reluctantly looked around.

"Yeah, and it's so peaceful too. I think it's so important at times like this, that there is peace, no-one needs a funeral disrupted, it's disrespectful to the one who's gone, and emotions re running so high on every side that things are said and done that people wouldn't say or do under other circumstances, and maybe even things that they don't really mean. I get what you mean about doctors, though, I really do. I hated them all for years, going right back to when my Mom died. My Dad and me were waiting in those dumb uncomfortable chairs, waiting for Mom to come out of surgery. And then the doctor came out, he just looked at dad and said, 'She's gone,' just like that. Like 'She's gone – next' as if he was talking about someone taking out the trash, and then he just turned and walked away. I'd never hated anyone as much as I hated him right there. And then when Bud – Lieutenant Roberts, I mean – was hurt in Afghanistan, and the Commander, Colonel MacKenzie and me, we were all waiting while the surgeons worked on him, and then that Surgeon Commander came out, and I just knew that she was going to tell us that Bud was dead, that he was 'gone', but then someone called her back into the OR, and she came back out a few minutes later, with a huge smile on her face, and she told us that he was going to make it. Mattie, at that moment, Commander or no Commander, I could have jumped up and kissed her death! But the important thing is, when she came out of the OR the first time, it looked as if she was about ready to start crying, and then when she came out the second time the smile on her face said that she wasn't like the other doctor; that she cared, she really cared, and OK, I haven't seen much of this Doctor Cameron, but it might be that she cares too, and that Mrs Gale was just too ill to be saved. Give her a chance Mats. It's going to be hard enough for the Commander and Miss Gale to get through all this, but it's going to be even harder if their daughter hates their friend!"

"But I'm not their daughter!" Mattie almost wailed in protest.

"Well, maybe not as the law is concerned," Jen conceded, "But in every other way, I reckon the Commander sees you as just that!"

"You think?" Mattie asked with a note of hope in her voice.

"Damn straight!" Jen affirmed, her use of one of Mattie's favourite expressions bringing a smile to the teenager's face.

"That's better!" Jen said approvingly, "Come on Mats, let's head back, it's almost time for the service, and I think you need to make an apology to the Doctor."

"Really?" Mattie asked doubtfully.

"Yeah, really. Look you don't have to become her buddy all of a sudden, but how about just giving her a chance to show that she's not the wicked witch of the west?"

"Oh... I know she's not that!" Mattie blurted out, only just smothering a giggle.

"How come?" Jen asked curiously.

"That's Colonel MacKenzie!" Mattie declared dogmatically.

Jen stayed silent, although she would probably never get over her strong disapproval of Mac's treatment of Harm, she nevertheless still retained a degree of loyalty to her former commanding officer.

Harm had been silently fuming and sneaking glances at his watch as he waited for Mattie's return, hoping that she hadn't fled the scene, but believing that she wouldn't let Esther down in such a fashion, and took a long breath of relief as he saw her re-enter the church in company with Jennifer Coates. What Coates was doing here was a mystery, but that could wait for later. The two young women hesitated in the church doorway as their eyes adjusted to the dimmer light of the interior, and then Jen touched Mattie's arm and nodded towards the group that consisted of Bud, Harriet and Alison. From where he stood Harm could see the sudden lift of Mattie's chin and the squaring of her shoulders as she marched towards the other group. With a sinking feeling Harm stood, whispering to Catherine as she quietly played with Beth, "I'll be back in a minute, Sweetheart," and he headed off on a course designed to intercept Mattie before she reached the others. Time and distance were against him however and he reached Mattie just as she spoke, "Doctor Cameron?"

Alison turned towards Mattie, eyeing her cautiously, she had after all heard Mattie's hissed question, "Yes, Mattie?"

Mattie gulped; this was proving harder than she'd thought. "Doctor, I said a couple of pretty nasty things to and about you, the other night and again here today. It seemed to me that you didn't care that Esther Gale died, and I was mad at you for that. I don't know if I can ever forgive or forget that you let her die. But maybe there wasn't anything you could have done for her, and maybe as a friend of mine just said, you did and you do care, and I'm willing to give you the benefit of that doubt. I don't think we'll ever be friends, but maybe we can get along together, so I want to say sorry to you for saying the things I did…" Mattie floundered to a stop, not quite knowing how to make a graceful retreat from the position she had gotten herself into.

Alison Cameron recognised the girl's dilemma and held out a hand, "Mattie, thank you for that, but there was no real need for an apology. I know you were hurting, and when people are hurt, they lash out; it's normal. And for what it's worth, I do care about Esther Gale, she was a marvellous, wonderful lady, of whom I grew to be very fond, and like you, and the rest of her family and friends I will miss her. And that's why I've come here today, to say my goodbyes to her, in the company of her family and friends. So yes, if we can't be friends, at least let us not be enemies, OK?"

Mattie took the offered hand and gave it a brief squeeze, nodding her head as she replied, "Thank you Doctor, I think we can do that."

Harm was near enough to hear what was said, and he nodded in approval of both Mattie and Alison's words. He knew that although a cease-fire had been proposed and accepted, there was still a ways to go before there was peace between the two, but today he'd take anything he could get.

And now it was time for the service, and gently taking Mattie by the elbow, he steered her back towards Catherine and Beth, the two of them taking their seats just as the minister stepped into the pulpit and began the service.

The service by design was brief and was themed on giving thanks for Esther Gale's life and the certainty that she was now enjoying the after-life promised by the Saviour. At the minister's invitation, Donnie stood and read a short eulogy, counting the events of his mother's life and enumerating the blessings she had received and bestowed upon others.

The minister concluded the service with a few short prayers and then to the strains of "She Walked In Fields of Gold" the small congregation walked slowly to the graveside some hundred yards away in a peaceful corner of the cemetery, where Esther's casket stood, waiting to be lowered into the ground, and surrounded by floral tributes, one of which in particular caught his eye, stooping over the bouquet of lilies, he caught a familiar kitchen scent and realised that twined about the lily stems were strands of Rosemary, and unbidden a line from Hamlet sprang to his mind, 'Rosemary, that's for remembrance', and wondering who could have sent such a tribute he opened the card that was attached by a ribbon to the flowers, "To Harmon, Catherine, Elizabeth and Matilda, with my deepest sympathy for your loss. RIP Esther Gale." and it was signed in a familiar hand, "Sarah MacKenzie".

Biting back a sudden spurt of tears, Harm stood upright as the minister read out the Twenty Third Psalm with its message of faith and hope, before continuing with the well-worn, "Man that is born of woman hath but a short time and is full of woe…" and then finally ending the service with a quiet, "We have done here today what we came to do, go now all of you, with the blessing of God."

Harm and his family stood silently while the few guests filed past the casket, each of them touching it lightly in passing and heading back towards the church parking lot before they adjourned to the private room in a local tavern where Donnie had arranged for refreshments to be served.

Harm, Catherine, Donnie and Chrissie circulated amongst the guests ensuring that everybody's plate was full and that a suitable drink was in everyone's glass. Harm took the opportunity to approach Jen where she stood talking to Harriet Roberts, who smiled at Harm and tactfully, although her ears were burning with curiosity, withdrew from hearing distance.

"Jennifer, we weren't expecting to see you here today," Harm said, "but you are very welcome, particularly seeing as it seems we owe you for correcting Mattie's behaviour." He paused and eyed her shrewdly, "How did you do it and what did you say to her?"

"Do you recall, sir, that not so long ago I said that there might be times when Mattie really needed to tell em things that she couldn't say to you or Miss gale? Well, today was one of those times! As for what I said to her… well, sir, I can't really tell you that without disclosing what she said to me. And If I was to tell you that, then I'd be blowing our doctor/patient confidentiality!" Jen told him with a smile that was broad enough to reveal her dimple.

Harm chuckled and raised an eyebrow, "Doctor/patient confidentiality, really Jennifer? I don't think that kite will fly!"

"Maybe not today, sir, but some day, as soon as I'm qualified!"

"Taking it all the way to a doctorate, Jennifer?"

"Damn straight!" Jen affirmed for the second time that day.

The buffet meal didn't last too long. Bud and Harriet had left A J and Jimmy with a neighbour's teenaged daughter to baby-sit them and they were anxious to return home, and their departure seemed to be a signal for Alison Cameron to come up to Harm and Catherine and make her farewells; she was scheduled for the late shift at Kresge and needed to get a couple of hours rest before embarking on what could be an exhausting evening.

Jennifer too, once she realised that the others were leaving, made her excuses to Harm and Catherine, and with a quick hug for Mattie also left, promising to pick Mattie up on Friday evening, if they didn't manage to speak with each other before then.

Barely had Harm and Mattie seen Jen safely into her old Ford when on returning to the private room they became aware of a more than just strained atmosphere. Chrissie was sitting white faced and anxious as an angry Catherine faced down a defiant Donnie. It was immediately apparent that Ham had somehow missed the tension that had obviously been simmering between brother and sister and had only waited for their guests to depart before exploding into an open, furious argument.

"Damn it, Catherine! You could at least show some respect and have the decency to postpone it!"

"I am showing respect Donnie! I'm keeping the promise I made to our mother while she was dying, which is more than can be said for you!"

"We are keeping our promise, Catherine! We promised Mom that we'd get married in June, and we are getting married in June! But we're going to leave it a twelve month and get married next June! At least we are showing Mom some respect, by not celebrating the same year she died!"

"That's pure sophistry Donnie, just bullshit! You may think you're abiding by the words of the promise you made, but you sure as hell aren't abiding by the spirit of it! You know full well that when you promised Mom you'd get married in June she thought that you meant this year! Well, I'm telling you Donald Gale, that when we promised her we'd get married in April, we knew and she knew that we meant this April! We promised her that Donald Gale, and on this side of the family, we don't make promises we don't intend to keep!"

"Fine, OK!" Donald yelled back, "But neither Chrissie nor I will attend your wedding if you hold it in April this year!"

"Donnie," Harm interrupted quietly, "You don't really mean that you'd miss your only sister's wedding?"

"No! I don't mean that!" Donnie snapped, "Because if you get married in April, then I will no longer have a sister!"

Mattie and Catherine both gasped and stood speechless, as Harm said, "Donnie that's just your temper talking; you don't mean that!"

"The hell I don't!" Donnie yelled in a choked voice, and then he drew a deep breath, "Come on Chrissie we're out of here!" and spun on his heel barging through the door.

Chrissie stood, still pale faced, "I… I'm… sorry he's acting like this… I'm sure he'll be OK once he's calmed down. But… I… I think he's right you know… I think that maybe you ought to consider postponing until next year." She made a brave attempt at a smile, "Maybe we could have a double wedding, and then we could all laugh at this…" she finished in an almost pleading tone.

Harm looked at Catherine who had drawn herself to her full height, her own face white with the exception of two crimson temper flares at her cheeks, "No I don't think so, Chrissie. I meant what I said. We keep our promises on this side of the family!" she almost spat out.

Chrissie just looked at the three of them helplessly and then turned to the door, looking back over her shoulder once saying, "Please?"

Catherine, although sorry for Chrissie being caught in the middle of the fight between brother and sister, just shook her head and said quietly, "You'd best go, Chrissie."

xxxi-xxxi-xxxi-xxxi-xxxi

The aftermath of the fight between Donnie and Catherine, coming as it did at their mother's funeral, was bitter and remained unresolved. Catherine and Harm had both repeatedly tried to call Donnie, but his first question to them was always the same, "Are you still going ahead with the April wedding?" And each time they had answered that they were, he had hung up. Calls to Chrissie were only a little more fruitful, but she, as was only natural and despite her misgivings, sided with Donnie, and although she remained polite she refused to discuss her and Donnie's position, and so over the next several weeks the attempts at calls became fewer with longer intervals between them.

In the meantime, Catherine was as busy as any working Mom but with the added stress of preparing for her own wedding. Fortunately Beth now only woke once, or less frequently twice, during the night and half the time could be rocked back to sleep with little difficulty, relieving some of the stress and fatigue on both Harm and Catherine.

Harm returned to work after the funeral, almost happy to do so and relieved that apart from the unresolved conflict with Donnie, all was comparatively smooth sailing at home. Mattie was doing well at school, and seemed to be getting over the impact of Esther's death, although both Harm and Catherine noted separately that she was a little clingier than she had been before, confirming their suspicions about her behaviour as they discussed the day's events. A practice that grew into a habit at the end of each day in the shared comfort of their bed.

The guest list for the wedding was remarkably short. Frank and Tricia of course would come out from California the week before and would help out with the last minute details and take some of the load from Harm and Catherine's shoulders. Bud and Harriet's invitation was happily received, Bud responding to it with a "Are you sure you don't need me to conduct the ceremony?"

Harm and Bud were in McMurphy's at the time, and the threat from Harm of emptying what was left of his beer over Bud's head brought a hasty retraction and a smiling acceptance of Harm's correcting him, "Not this time, Bud. I need you to be my groomsman!"

Jennifer Coates at first demurred, when Harm ambushed her at lunch with an invitation for herself plus one, saying, "I don't think I ought to, sir."

"Why ever not, Jennifer?" Harm was taken by surprise, Jen had become a frequent weekend visitor to the house on Woodford road, although she never stayed for longer than it took to bundle Mattie out of the house and into her car for sleepovers or visits to the Mall.

"Well, because you're an officer, and I'm enlisted," Jen pointed out patiently.

Harm blinked, "Jennifer, you're more than just enlisted, you're a friend. And I want my friend to celebrate my wedding with me. And it's more than that Jennifer; you've become a friend of the family. I'm pretty sure that if I didn't invite you, Catherine will. And I know Mattie would like her friend to be there to giggle with. Jennifer, I am more than happy that the friendship between the two of you is so close. Mattie has made good friends at school," Harm's mind flitted for the moment to the consideration of Susan Smithfield, a volleyball team-mate and who shared a military link with Mattie, her family were all Marines, and her elder brother Joe was the fourth generation of the family to join the Corps and was about to deploy to Iraq.

"But you're a different case Jennifer," he insisted, and to his mind Jennifer _was_ different, "You're a good influence on her. You're old enough to be a steadying influence on Mattie but you're still young enough not to appear to belong too much of an older generation. In some ways Mattie has come to look on you as an older sister. Harm grinned at Jen's dumbstruck expression and carried on, "And do you have any idea just how much it bugs Catherine when Mattie ignores her advice, and then goes and does just what you suggest, particularly when your advice and Catherine's is practically identical?"

Jen's sense of the absurd was tickled by the praise Harm had just heaped on her, and with a gurgle of half choked laughter, she said, "Flattery will get you almost anything, sir! Including my presence at your wedding! Thank you, sir!"

"Good girl!" Harm said approvingly, "Where would I be without my friend and my Yeoman to back me up! Just remember, when we get to the church, it's combat spread and watch my six!"

"Aye, aye, sir! To hell and back!" Jen responded, thinking 'If you only knew just how many times I've done just that!'

Harm blinked at Jen's use of the RIO's customary response, but then grinned as he reflected that he's been the one to introduce pilot-speak, so it was entirely his fault that she'd responded in kind.

With Donnie's refusal to attend the wedding, Catherine was left in a bit of bind, she now had no male relatives to support her, and discussing this lack with Mae who was to be her matron of honour was taken by surprise when the secretary diffidently suggested, "What about Allen Blaisdell, over at the air wing?"

"Blaisdell, why him?"

"Well… he did try and stop Commander Rabb from getting fired, and he's kind enough and nice enough in sorta of grumpy grandpa way… and I think he's always had a bit of a thing for you too."

Catherine blushed slightly, "That's quite a flattering thought, but it's pure nonsense, Mae! But it's not a bad idea; I'll run it past Harm first, though!"

Harm blinked when Catherine approached him with the idea. "You don't need my permission, Sweetheart, but for what it's worth, I think it's a good plan!"

April 2nd from having been way off in the distant future suddenly hurtled down on them like a tropical storm with ever increasing speed. Frank and Tricia arrived as planned the previous weekend, Tricia at once taking over the running of the household, the planning of the wedding and the chasing up of last minute details, while Frank tried to rein in her wildest flights. Mattie, after a few fruitless protests, retreated in the face of overwhelming strength to the sanctuary of her bedroom, while Harm and Catherine contented themselves with looking after Beth and sat back and relaxed, laughing as Tricia set about re-arranging everything to her satisfaction.

The Saturday morning came and Tricia roused everybody out of bed at what Harm considered to be an unreasonably early hour of the morning. He knew what he was wearing, his Summer Dress Whites, the appropriate uniform for an early afternoon wedding, and he knew he could be showered shaved and dressed in less than half an hour. Bud too would be wearing Dress Whites, while Harm had stressed to Harriet and Jennifer that while the choice was up to them, he'd rather see them in civvies than in uniform today.

He hadn't of course, reckoned on the length of time that the ladies of the house would take to get ready, although he did have some inkling of how long it was going to take to tame Mattie's riot of curls into something approaching a suitable style for the day.

He was disappointed neither in the appearance of his bride nor of his ward. Catherine wore a tea-length dress in her favourite soft dove-grey, which brought out the hint of that colour in her eyes. She had refused to wear white at her wedding, quipping that "With Beth in her porta crib, right up front, it would be kind of hypocritical to wear white!" Her hair was simply dressed in its customary neck-length fall and she wore a simple wreath of bluebell flowers on her head.

Mattie's hair had once again been pummelled into a braid, this time by Jen who had gathered it up into a French Braid similar to the one in which she customarily wore her hair for work, before dashing out to her car, saying she needed to RV with her 'plus one'.

"Any idea who her plus one is, Squirt?" Harm queried Mattie as he admired her appearance. Mattie shrugged as she pirouetted on command to show herself before Harm.

"Nope, all she said was that he was a secret from her past!"

Harm smiled and murmured "Intriguing," before he went pale as an image of 'Tiny' the only man he knew from Jen's past flashed through his memory.

He was jerked out of his waking nightmare by an impatient "Well?" from Mattie. Harm shook his head to clear his mind's eye and regarded her gravely. Mattie was in her best looks today, with just enough colour in her cheeks to betray her liveliness and she had taken very little persuasion to wear the green dress Harm had bought her for Christmas, with the single strand of pearls that Catherine had bought her on the same occasion.

He smiled at her, "Mattie you're beautiful… You do realise that very soon I'm going to have to start wearing my sidearm?"

Mattie wrinkled her brow at the apparent non-sequitur, "Why?" she demanded.

"Oh to drive off the hordes of boys who realise just how beautiful you are!"

Mattie's colour increased slightly, but she said with a light laugh, "You're forgetting Harm, I'm not going to be allowed to date until I'm thirty at least!"

"Exactly! That's why I'll be wearing my sidearm, to keep 'em all away from you!"

Mattie crossed the room towards him, stopped in front of him and said, "Decrease altitude!"

Harm obediently bent his neck, putting his face in range of Mattie's lips which were pressed softly against his cheek, with a whispered, "Sometimes you say the dumbest things, but I love you anyway!"

"You just remember, Squirt, it's a two-way street! Forever and always!" he added holding out his hand with his pinky extended.

Mattie blinked to dispel the sudden moisture in her eyes, "A pinky promise?" she challenged.

"You bet, Squirt!" he said enthusiastically as Mattie hooked her pinky around his.

xxxi-xxxi-xxxi-xxxi-xxxi

Harm looked around the familiar church with satisfaction, as he and Bud stood at the doors. The guests had assembled on time and Harm saw with a sigh of relief that Jen's plus one was a slim young man in Dress Whites. "Who's that with Jennifer, do you know?" he asked Bud.

Bud looked into the Church but stood at the doors all he could see was the back of the young man's head, "Nope, can't make him out, but he seems vaguely familiar, why?"

"Oh, Jen wouldn't say who her plus one was, just that he was from her past, and I had a horrible thought that he might be one of the bikers she used to run with!"

"Well I think I can safely say he doesn't look like a biker, sir!" Bud said encouragingly, and then as he looked at his watch, "We'd best go to General Quarters, sir!"

Harm nodded and the two of them walked down the aisle to the altar, Harm unable to resist a sideways glance at a hugely grinning Jennifer Coates 'plus one' whom he recognised with relief as the recently appointed Lieutenant Junior Grade Jason Tiner. Harm shot an accusing glare at Jen who replied silently but distinctly through her grin with "Gotcha!"

Harm smiled back and then faced front, whispering out of the corner of his mouth, "Did you see who it is, Bud?"

"Who whom is, sir?" a bewildered Bud asked.

"Jennifer's date! It's Jason Tiner!" Harm hissed.

Bud couldn't help looking back over his shoulder as he walked and tipped over his own feet, only saved from a fall by Harm's hand shooting out to grasp him by the elbow until he had regained his footing. "Eyes front!" Harm growled as he let go of his groomsman's arm.

Harm and Bud halted in front of the altar waiting for Catherine to make her entrance. They were not kept waiting long before the strains of the processional rose from the organ lot and as one the guest stood and turned to watch the bridal party make their stately way down the aisle. Mae and Mattie preceded the bride, Mae in a dress as near to matching Mattie's as she had been able to find, her hair and skin also being of a tone that and colour that could wear such a strong green hue.

Allen Blaisdell escorted Catherine to the foot of the altar steps, and the party waited as Chaplain Turner spoke, "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today in the sight of God and in the face of this congregation to join together this man and this woman in holy matrimony…"

Tricia Rabb Burnett heaved a silent sigh of relief as she sat with her granddaughter in her arms, although she had only spoken to Esther Gale on a few occasions, she had felt the impact of her loss on Catherine and Harm and yes, Mattie too, and had worried that the wedding would fall apart under the stress and strain of grief and the aftermath of the fight with Catherine's brother. But everything that should happen was happening, and everyone that should be here was here. Catherine and Harm's responses were crisp and audible. Bud didn't lose or fumble the rings, and Tricia couldn't help a few tears escaping her eyes as she heard Harm say," I take thee, Catherine Mary Gale as my lawful wedded wife… and finishing with the vow "As long as we both shall live!"

Catherine's responses and vows were just as clear and audible, and the ceremony was nearly completed with Harm's "With this ring, I thee wed…" the exchange of rings competed, Chaplain Turner smiled and in his reach deep voice said, "I now pronounce you husband and wife together! Commander Rabb, you may now kiss your bride!"

Harm's firm and loud response of "Aye, aye, sir!" drew a burst of cheering and laughter from the crowd and a deep chested chuckle from the Chaplain, both of which were totally ignored by Harm and Catherine as they stood lip-locked in front of their friends and in front of the altar.

They were interrupted by the Chaplain who with a grin on his face chivvied them, "Go on you two, get out of here. Your public is waiting!"

Harm and Catherine almost ran down the aisle only to stop on the doorstep of the church as they were besieged by their friends. Neither of them could remember the number of kisses, slaps on the back and hearty handshake they endure, but Harm later reckoned he scored higher in the kisses stakes as the female guests outnumbered the males, he had even received, he claimed truthfully, congratulatory kisses from Beth O'Neill and Gina.

"Ah but so did I!" Catherine countered with a wicked smile, "And I wonder which of us received the warmer kisses from that particular pair!"

Harm threw his head back and laughed, "Touché!" he acknowledged her win.

The party at Bud and Harriet's house went on well into the small hours, Harm taking the opportunity to tell Jennifer Coates how she'd scared him with the identity of her mystery plus one, but the only effect that had on Jen was to make her laugh outright when he described his vision of her turning up with Tiny as her date.

"God, no!" she half sobbed as she wiped her streaming eyes, "No… It was just that I thought if I was going to fraternise by going to an officer's wedding, then I might as well go the whole hog, so I gave Jason… I mean Lieutenant Tiner a call at the Navy yard, and here we are…"

Harm frowned slightly, "Jennifer, _are_ you involved with young Tiner…? If so, it's no laughing matter…"

Jen smiled gently, "No, we're not involved, sir. We like each other well enough, and we dated a couple of times while we still both enlisted, but there's no spark there sir, we're just friends when we're in the same zip code. Otherwise it's an occasional e-mail, not even a 'phone call."

Harm looked searchingly into Jen's face but saw no sign of deceit or guile, and his face relaxed, "Well, have a good time this evening Jennifer, and thank you for coming to our special day."

Jennifer nodded and moved away through the room, heading for the corner where Harriet sat, with the intention of inveigling the blonde into letting her peep in on the two babies presently sleeping in crib and porta-crib respectively in the upstairs nursery.

The following morning the household woke late, if hangover free, and much of the day was lost in Frank and Tricia's departure. But leave they finally did, Frank's Chrysler rental disappearing in the general direction of Dulles airport and their first-class flight back to San Diego.

xxxi-xxxi-xxxi-xxxi-xxxi

There was to be no immediate honeymoon for the bridal couple, instead Monday morning at oh eight thirty hours saw them, Beth and Mattie once more on the road to Charlottesville heading once more for the Family Relations Court.

Seated once more at the now all too familiar table in the same courtroom, they waited impatiently for the bailiff to call the court to order as Judge Smith once again presided over her courtroom.

For once she abandoned formality and smiled pleasantly at Harm and his family, "Commander and Mrs Rabb, I presume?" she asked.

"Yes your honour!"

Judge Smith nodded, "I see you've come to renew your petition for full adoption of Matilda Grace Johnson, a minor child?" She raised her hand to stop Mattie's objection. "I know you prefer to go by your mother's name, Matilda, but for just this once we have to abide by the strict letter of the law, alright?"

Mattie subsided into her seat, a glower of discontent on her face, but she did manage a rather grudging, "Yes, your honour."

Madeleine Smith nodded her appreciation of the teenager's acknowledgement of her ruling and then continued, "The last time this petition was presented to the court, I had only one reservation, and that was Commander Rabb's and Miss Gale's unmarried state. That reservation has been rendered null and void by your recent marriage, and the reports from Miss Le Moyne, if anything, are written in more glowing terms than previously. There remains only one more question. Matilda, if I grant this petition how would you wish to be known? Remember whatever gets entered on the adoption papers becomes your new legal name."

Matilda stood and raised her head to look Judge Smith straight in the eye, "Your honour, I've given this a lot of thought, and if the petition is granted I want my legal name to become Mattie Esther Grace Rabb!"

The judge smiled, more perhaps at Mattie's vehemence and the pleased but surprised gasps from both Catherine and Harm than because she realised the significance of the girl's choice of name. "How does that sit with you, Commander and Mrs Rabb?"

Both Catherine and Harm stood, "That makes me both proud and humble," Harm admitted. "And deeply touched, your honour," Catherine added.

Judge Smith nodded, there was no counterfeiting the look of joy and pride that husband and wife wore on their faces. "So be it! The petition is granted, from this moment forth, the minor child Mattie Esther Grace Rabb is the legally adopted daughter of Harmon David Rabb and Catherine Mary Rabb!"

xxxi-xxxi-xxxi-xxxi-xxxi

With court cases and weddings safely behind them, Harm breathed a sigh of relief, it took a couple of weeks to get the navy to acknowledge that he now had a wife and two daughters, all of whom would be covered by his navy medical benefits, but at last even that hurdle was crossed, and an interview with Mattie's Dragon Lady who was threatening to fail her in English for the year unless and until she made up the missed semester was resolved when Harm produced all the documents, letters and business plans she had written while she was running Grace Aviation as well as the twenty page letter she had written to the court explaining just why she should become Harm and Catherine's ward. The Dragon Lady grudgingly agreed that Mattie's written work more than satisfied the course requirements and the threatened 'F' became a 'B'. Mattie protested, but Harm quickly hustled her out of the room before the teacher changed her mind.

"What's the rush, Harm?" she demanded still wanting to go back and face down the teacher who it seemed had taken an instant dislike to her.

"We're getting out of here," Harm told her, "Because that woman terrifies me!"

His answer was enough to make Mattie laugh and abandon her desire for confrontation.

xxxi-xxxi-xxxi-xxxi-xxxi

But, Harm reflected as he returned from lunch some three weeks after his wedding, that seemed to have been the last bump in the road they'd hit. Work had settled into a steady routine too. Lydia Bellingham and Mike Sheddan had more than fulfilled his expectations of them, the disruption caused throughout the JAG Corps by the implementation of the reassignments of officers in tranches one and two had wound down. The new JAG, Vice Admiral Amanda Tucker, was installed at the Washington Navy Yard and the much reduced office at Falls Church was beginning to function as the first of a new style of Regional Legal Offices, a combination of Trial Services and Legal Services. Harm thought that at last things were settling down.

That comfortable belief was badly shaken when on entering the outer office he was immediately hailed by Jen, "Sir! Thank God you're back! The SecNav's been shouting for you! He wants you in his office ten minutes ago!"

Harm blinked; there had been absolutely nothing on his radar that warned him of a crisis that demanded his immediate attendance on the SecNav, but merely raising an eyebrow, said calmly, "Well, I'd better get along there… what are you needed too?"

"Yes sir, SecNav said I needed to be present too!"

"What's going on, Jennifer?"

"I don't know sir!" she protested, but she was unable to look him in the eye as she did so.

Harm eyed her thoughtfully, "H'mm, why don't I believe that?"

"I don't know, sir!" Jen gave him her widest eyed, most innocent look.

"Nope, not going to work Jennifer!" he said as he opened the door to Penny Mayberry's office.

"Go right on in Commander," she told him, "The Secretary's waiting for you."

Harm knocked sharply on the doorframe and entered on the Secretary's invitation. The secretary was definitely waiting for him, but so were Lydia Bellingham, Mike Sheddan as well as Catherine, Mattie and Beth.

Before he could say anything, Jen said, "By your leave, sir!" and brushed past him to take post just behind the Secretary's right shoulder.

Once again before he could speak, the Secretary of the Navy stood and rapped out, "Attention to Orders!"

Naval discipline took hold as all the military personnel present braced to attention, and for a long moment there was a silence broken only by a soft whimper from Beth, whose nap had been disturbed by the sharpness of Secretary Sheffield's command. But the SecNav hadn't finished, "Commander Rabb, it is my pleasure to inform you that the O-6 Selection Board sat two weeks ago and nominated officers for promotion to the rank of Captain. Your name was on that list. Sheffield held out his hand for the slim blue folder that Jen placed in it, "By Order of the Secretary of the Navy, Commander Harmon David Rabb Junior, United States Navy Judge Advocate Generals' Corps, is promoted to the rank and dignity of Captain, United States Navy, with rank and seniority effective from August 15th 2004. Signed Edward Sheffield, Secretary of the Navy! Raise your right hand Captain Rabb and repeat after me…"

Harm duly renewed his oath of service hardly hearing his own voice as he did so, but not stumbling once over the form of the oath.

The oath complete, Sheffield turned to Catherine, "Mrs Rabb, Miss Rabb, if you please?"

Catherine stepped forward to help Harm's suddenly nerveless fingers cope with the buttons on his Dress Blue Jacket, while Mattie held a previously concealed jacket, but this one with the four sleeve rings and shoulder boards of a JAG Captain.

A still disbelieving Harm now stood resplendent in his new jacket as the SecNav coughed and said, "I understand it is customary for the wife of the officer receiving his promotion to give him a congratulatory kiss," he shot an anxious glance at Catherine, "On the cheek, and lasting for no more than ten seconds!" he added.

Catherine smiled and reached up to plant a chaste kiss on Harm's cheek and stepped back still wearing her smile as she whispered, "Congratulations, darling."

Mattie now stepped forward with a challenging look at the SecNav, "Well, I didn't come here just to be a spectator," she said, and then to Harm. "Decrease altitude!"

Harm looked at his chief and shrugged helplessly as Lydia and Mike tried unsuccessfully to restrain their amusement. Edward Sheffield shrugged helplessly too; he too had a teenage daughter.

Mattie's kiss was just as warm and as brief as Catherine's and her "I'm so proud of you Harm!" brought an embarrassed grin to his face.

"Thank you all! Captain and Mrs Rabb, please stay behind, the rest of you may return to your duties!" Edward Sheffield had reverted to the SecNav, "Petty Officer, perhaps you could find Miss Rabb a soda!"

A chorus of "Aye, aye, sir!" filled the office as all but Harm and Catherine left and then Mattie's clear voice could be heard, "I'd rather you made that a coffee, Jen!"

Edward Sheffield smiled, "A young woman of decided spirit there Captain! Has she decided what she wants to do with her life yet?"

"Not yet, Mister Secretary."

Sheffield nodded. "Good she still has plenty of time. Well, if she ever decides she wants to enter any of the service academies, I shall be happy to provide a reference for her!"

Harm blinked, "That's very generous of you Mister Secretary!"

"It's the least I can do, Captain. Mrs Rabb, I've asked you to stay with your husband, because what I am about to tell him will also affect you and your family, and I have a feeling that the Captain may need you in a few minutes. I don't like breaking my word Captain Rabb, but unfortunately, sometimes the exigencies of the service force that unhappy occurrence on us! When I asked you to resume active duty status, I promised you that this billet would be yours for three years. Unfortunately I cannot any longer keep that promise. Your promotion to Captain had made that impossible, especially as you were promoted with a particular billet in mind. Captain Rabb, I am sorry for the short notice, but with effect from August 15th you will be the Force Judge Advocate General for the US Navy in Europe, based out of London." He looked at Catherine, "This is an accompanied billet, if you should wish it, with O-6 suitable base housing provided at RAF Station Northolt, near London."

Harm didn't even look at Catherine, "Yes, Mister Secretary, we do wish it!"

"Very well, Captain, congratulations! Your seniority dates from August 15th, but due to your need to be aware of this posting in order to make arrangement to move your family and settle your affairs this side of the pond, frocking is authorised."

Harm sat still, trying to get a handle on all that had happened in the last ten minutes, until the SecNav provided him with a mental nudge, "You might want to make a start, Captain, you've got a lot to do and only four months in which to do it!"


	32. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

It was the postmark that had caught his attention, and for a moment he'd considered throwing it in the trash, just like he done with all the other letters from England, but for some reason, and with a snort of exasperation at his own foolish curiosity he slipped the blade of his pocket knife under the flap and slitting the envelope, pulled out the three sheets of paper, covered, as he'd expected, in her beautifully clear handwriting.

_"103 Torquay Street_

_London WC1 2EE_

_United Kingdom_

_0044 207 555 4280_

_October 1st 2010_

_Dear Donnie._

_I know this all came as a huge surprise, probably even shocked you when it happened, but it's been four years now, and I need you not to be mad at me any more._

_You're right of course, I must have been mad, totally out of my head and out of this world insane. It was a huge risk to take. Not what you expected from your ever-so-cautious, test-the-water-first baby sister, I guess. Yes, I know you felt you had a right to be concerned, I can even see how you felt that you were right to be concerned, but you needn't have been. There was just something about him, especially that night, something so sincere and so, oh, I don't know, so safe and secure, maybe. And even though I didn't love him then, after all, I hardly even knew him; I just knew that he would never hurt me._

_You asked me once just how well did I know him; we had worked together, no... actually, we had worked __against__ each other on a case where his emotions were running so high and I... well, I had been cool and professional and managed to stonewall him at every turn. Until the last turn, that is. His commitment and his belief in the rightness of what he was doing struck a sympathetic chord somewhere, with someone, and a piece of evidence I didn't even know existed came to light. And when the court viewed that evidence, even the cool , professional counsel for the respondent (me) had to find a Kleenex in a big hurry. He won, of course. When I asked him afterwards why he had been so determined, even passionate about winning the case, he said that it wasn't about winning or losing, it was discovering the truth that was important, that, and doing the right thing._

_And then when I had needed someone to help me out in the second most insane thing I had ever done, he had stepped up to the plate and swung like Casey, OK, I'd had ask him pretty please, with sugar on it, before he had agreed, but once in, he was in all the way, but you know that; you were there that night too._

_And then he got fired. Well, not exactly fired, he had to resign just so he could do the right thing, again. How can you not admire a man for sticking to his principles like that? Especially in today's world. Then about seven months later he got fired from his new job, guess what for - for doing the right thing, again. Are you beginning to see a pattern here?_

_That was just a little after the time when that mess with Kevin (yes, I know, you warned me about him too!) had reached critical mass and imploded, (alright, I'm not a physicist - so sue me!) and he had been the only person of whom I could think to turn. It was unlucky, perhaps that she was at his apartment that one time. I still don't know what she was to him by then; hell I don't think he knows even now what she was to him then, his former girlfriend? Partner? Frenemy? Whatever she was, she thought she was still important to him, and Donnie, if you had seen the look he sent after her as we passed in the doorway, even your heart would have broken. And even after all she had done to him, she still sent me a 'keep away from my man' look_

_I may not have known what she was to him, but I do know that she had done something really hurtful to him, not just broken his heart, but she had taken away from him something that had been essentially him, and that is something that I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive her for. I didn't, and I still don't know how to describe what he had lost, but I could see its loss in his eyes; he'd tried to hide it from me, hell, from the whole world, of course. He is the most infuriatingly reticent man I have ever met. Totally unlike all the other guys in my life, those jerks were all so keen to tell me how great they were, but he wasn't like that. Trying to get him to talk about himself was like trying to get blood out of a stone._

_I found out, while he was working for The Company, from one his friends that he'd had to resign so he could go after her and pull her out of a badly planned and half-resourced mission that another employee of The Company had taken her on. And when he got to her she was on the verge of being tortured and killed. So he not only gave up a profession he loved but he saved her life, and not only did she never even thank him for any of it, she told him, after nearly ten years of close friendship, that there was never going to be anything meaningful between them, and then threw herself at the idiot who got her into that mess on the first place – a man who was supposed to have been his friend. So, a double betrayal; I think that's what broke him. _

_I still don't really know why I went to see him at his apartment that evening. I'd broken up with Kevin some time ago, and I knew that he had just been fired, and that she had taken up with the idiot spook who'd nearly got them all killed, so I figured that two lonely people might cheer each other up, and in spite of his own hurt he tried to help me. Then a couple of nights later I went to see Mom in hospital, and he was already there visiting with her. Mom had already figured out the trick we'd played and she even used her x-ray vision to see through my coat and told me that it wasn't hiding anything or fooling anybody - I was about five months pregnant then with Elizabeth Patricia. Anyway, when we left the hospital, he invited me for dinner the following evening, at his apartment, and then at the end of the meal we were sat, finishing our glass of cider, when he asked me why didn't we give it a try? When I asked him what he meant, he said he meant that we should give our relationship a chance, and see what happened._

_He jokes about it now, and says he wishes he'd had a camera ready just to catch the expression on my face, though I've pretty good idea of just how stunned-dumb-stupid I must have looked. When I got my wits back I started to say 'no', but when I saw his eyes, the loss, the pain, the desperate longing, the fear of rejection, and the beginning of hope, I just couldn't bring myself to just say 'no'._

_So, I tried to rationalise an appropriate answer - yes, I know you always say I over analyse everything, but it's what I do, I am a lawyer. So I started to tell him that he was too high risk, too emotionally damaged, that he didn't know what he wanted, that I was pregnant with another man's child, and the thought struck me that maybe that was what he really wanted, an instant family, and I was just a means to that end! We had very little in common, apart from that we both came from military families, and that both our fathers were dead. Even our education and career paths were totally different, he'd been at Annapolis while I was at Michigan and while I did my law at Cornell, and then went on to work for The Company, he was flying jets for the Navy until an accident ended his flying career. So he turned to the law as a sort of second best, while it had always been my life's goal. So he attended Georgetown and then passed his bar exam quite late, while I was already practising. And I also felt that while he had many qualities that I admired and I didn't necessarily possess, we should perhaps not even be friends. _

_Then he said he did know what he wanted, he wanted me. Pregnant or not. He was so certain, I swear my heart skipped a beat, and he looked into my eyes and then I felt that sense of overpowering safety and security I was talking about, and I knew that because he knew what it felt like to be hurt, that he would never hurt me... and then I heard myself say I didn't see why we shouldn't give it a go. Really smart, huh?_

_Yes, it was smart, probably the smartest thing I've ever said, except I was a bit smarter when six months later, just after we took guardianship of Mattie, and just before we buried Mom, he'd asked me to marry him. By that time I was so absolutely in love with the most wonderful man in the world that I never even dreamed of analysing or rationalising, I just said 'yes, please'. Maybe you were right, maybe the timing was wrong. But we've had this argument, so I'm not going to rehash the whys and wherefores of what we did, but Mom's dying left this huge empty space in my soul, and he filled it with his love for me when I needed him to do just that._

_Just after we'd started dating (I suppose you could call it that for want of a better description) he'd got his old job back and had been reinstated as a Navy attorney, and then as soon as we were married, we formally adopted Mattie. Then just a few months after that he took a promotion and we were posted here. He had a very high profile position and I got a part-time job teaching pre-law at the American School, and consulting with the Embassy. And of course we've got Edward David (Ed) as well now; he's coming up just shy of eighteen months, but I'm sure I wrote you and told you about that. I wish you'd answer my letters. _

_But he's received new orders assigning him to a post in our old stamping grounds, as Chief of Staff to the new JAG at Falls Church, not too far from Langley. We fly back to DC on November 18th, just in time for Mattie's 21st birthday - she's at Annapolis now, half-way through her third year - and he takes up his assignment on December 1st, so we are hoping to get everything squared away in time for Christmas. We don't have an address yet, so at first we'll be camping at Harmon's Grandmother's house in Belleville, PA, about three hours' drive from DC, but when we get settled, we would love for you and Chrissie and the boys to come and visit with us. It doesn't seem right to me that our children should have to grow up not knowing their cousins just because you and I had a falling out, and I know Mom would want us to kiss and make up and be friends again. _

_I'll write again and let you know where we end up. I miss you Donnie. With all my love, as always._

_Catherine"_

Donald Gale read through the letter twice, and again hesitated before he followed his first inclinations to dump it in the trash. Instead he passed it to Chrissie, his wife, who juggling the letter and the squirming eight month old Caroline Esther (named after her grandmothers) read it through, and then looking her husband squarely in the eye said, "She's right Donnie, the kids should get to know each other, and Momma Esther would want you to kiss and make up again."

"Yeah, maybe it's time." He paused, and pinching the bridge of his nose, he looked at his wife and with a rueful smile full of regret for stupid pride and for the lost years said, "I miss her too."

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**A/N: **That brings us to the end of Harm and Catherine's story as we leave them, Beth and Mattie on the verge of beginning a new chapter in their lives in Britain. This is definitely the end of the story, and so I would like to pass on my thanks to my readers who placed this story on their favourites list, or story alerts or author alerts. My thanks for their encouragement are also due to my reviewers, who are too numerous to name, but they know who they are.

Of course, just because _this_ story is ended it doesn't mean that there might not be further glimpses into Harm and his family's life at some time in the future...maybe...


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